[Raikiri] No. 117

[Nyanfood]

((Yep, but Rivera doesn't know that ^^ She probably can't even see the beds under the books and junk... and she still thinks that boys' rooms are messier than mountains of paper and such ... kya!))

Rivera tried to calm down a little... She looked around the room at the pictures and the pinned up sheet music. She often wished that she could sing, but to do so was impossible for her. She could barely whisper in everyday conversation, singing was completely impossible for her. The last time she tried, she damaged both of her lungs and part of her vocal chords. The piano was the one thing she could play, and even then, she couldn't often play it well. Usually, she would go to the Music Studio with her sketch book and draw. Whenever she drew, any instruments that weren't being used within ten meters of her would begin to play together. Sometimes, it was calm and sweet, other times, they were sad or angry. It depended on what she drew or what she wrote. That was how she played. Every sound had a symbol attached to it in her mind, but it was the symbol for a specific bend of silence around a sound. She could see it in her mind whenever people spoke and imitate voices with a precisely calculated and modified silence wave combat technique. Basically, learning how to play an instrument was something that took her the space of minutes, but actually playing a song with emotion was beyond her. She didn't know how to read notes and see other symbols at the same time without overloading her mind yet, so all she could play were songs she learned by ear or songs she made up on her sketchbook. Rivera envied Kira and his brother for being able to play guitars.

The dark and light inscriptions that set up the theme for the entire room provided a contrast that was comforting as well as balanced. It was like... Fengshui, even with the messiness it had. She was very much at ease here. She was especially at ease on Kira's side of the room. Light wasn't much to her comfort, but dark was where she was completely at home. Her powers were derived from a very neutral source of energy, but what swayed it was her liking for her storm based attacks. It made her much more at home to be nearer a darker side. Her own dorm wasn't as decorated as this one. It was kept clean all the time because the objects she touched all have a little bit of her magical residue. It was tiny, but if it got too messy, it could involuntarily induce her chaos continuum and cause her to destroy more than just half of Wingardia.

When Kira suddenly sat up, she jumped. After fighting in that wierd Kekkai thing, she still hadn't regained all of her aural senses. And besides, Kira was still hurt. His aural power would be less than usual anyway. "G...good morning! I'm... I thought this was Kuro's room... I'm really confused... So you share a dorm?" She didn't really needed to have that question answered, the contrast and the pictures pretty much allowed her to figure out everything. The second question startled her. She was still jumpy after the fight. Because the half moon was the night of the fight, she was able to restore any wounds she had to their proper healed state. So most of her bandages were already off. However, she had nearly no magical power after the fight. The Kekkai had just about drained it all. She used the last fragment of her energy to restore, thinking that there was still enough left to heal Kira again... well, there was. But after being exposed to so much chaotic energy, it didn't work so well on him anymore.

"The hair? Oh, yes... I cut it back a foot or so..." She answered softly, "All priestesses have long hair... it's like an energy channel, in a way... But it'll take too long for me to regain my powers if it's down to my hips and all... so I cut it... is there something wrong?" Only about half of her power was back. It would be another day before she can completely heal Kira without passing out. She blinked. Well, obviously she was ready for the picnic. That's why she was here with the obento and everything.  

[Shinygami]

Kira looked at her smiling. "You know I have no problem with that... I was just surprised is all...." He said yawning again and stretching as he stood. His body was still stiff and sore, so he felt wierd, wobbly, and weak. But he could still stand and go to the picnic with Rivera. "You know... I'm glad this is finally happening... Kestrel's defeated for the moment... Ravenhawk is still recovering... Reports on campus from friends actually say he has his own date at the picnic right now.... So I doubt he'd be interested in us..." Kira said lightly. He opened the door to his dorm and stepped out into the hall. "So... Shall we go?" He asked.  

[Nyanfood]

"Ravenhawk has a DATE?!" Rivera's eyes widened slightly, turning pale yellow-green, then slowly back to mild light green as her surprise faded, "Well... He is pretty cute... I suppose he might have a soft side..." She sighed, "I wish this can be over quickly. If only I can cut my hair a little more, I can get my powers back faster... but then I'll just lose my power as Pritier Praeisa'acque and we'll be struck by thousands of thunderstorms and tidal waves before I can bear a child." She blushed when she realized she had said her last sentence and looked away. "I wasn't suggesting anything, just to tell you that much... " Gulping, she changed the subject quickly. "Yeah, Let's go! "  

[Shinygami]

((Umm... Did you not read the other post completely...? He is dressed... Also I'm waiting till tommorrow for the fight posts... I'm too tired to keep up a combative, tactical mindset...))  

[Nyanfood]

((Ack!! I'm sorry!! I'm working on my essay at the same time... so I'm completely spaced out... I'll just delete the last phrase >...>))  

[Shinygami]

((Don't worry!))

Kira walked out with her. "Do not be so surprised... Every guy has a girl... And every girl has a guy..." He said simply. He lifted a skeptical eyebrow at her comment about Ravenhawk being... Cute... And shivered. "Do not call him cute... I'll get jealous and end up hurting some girl I don't even know by ripping him limb from limb..." He warned quietly. "Not suggesting anything... Wait what's all this talk about bearing a child?" He joked with a grin on his face. He then obliged and walked out with her, still interested in hearing all she had to say.  

[Nyanfood]

((Next post will be at the picnic.. .nya ^^))  

[Nyanfood]

<>

Rivera saw that the room was much messier than she thought it had been. Her vision was certainly much better now, and she could see everything in detail again. The red carpet gave her a very uncomfortable craving for blood, but she soon got used to it. Kira's room was definitely pretty typical. It looked pretty cool, cooler than hers, anyway. Her bedroom was just about empty. The onlything that prettified it was the deep black carpeting and the night sky walls and ceilings. Just about everything else was plain, white or dimensionalized.

Rivera drew the Kairyu, feeling its steady weight in her hands, letting the energy from the blade flow into the hilt and into the hand like slender, silvery tendrils of living ice... crisp, yet not devastatingly cold, not to her anyway. Perhaps to her opponents, the blade had a more passionate embrace than the one it gave her... the embrace of doomcoming, of course. She lifted the faithful sword. It was originally a longsword when it was first forged, but her powers of steel manipulation could change it into a denser, stronger blade but as a straightsword instead, to ease the effort of balancing the heavy weight. At 48 lbs or so, Rivera's heritages and hybrid abnormalities showed clearly through her body structure. She wasn't as short and small as most Aeterranchisenne women because of her human and dragon blood's counter effects, but she wasn't quite as large as most draconians.

Her bone structure was completely imbalanced, making her left side stronger than her right side, but her right side faster than her left. Atlantean bones were denser and heavier than human bones, but dragon bones were hollow and much lighter. As a result, the genes crossfused and gave her scattered bone types all over her body. Some of her bones were dense, heavy, and as strong as diamonds in a combination of draconian strength and atlantean density... for example, her lower left hip bone, a few of her left ribs and half of her left shoulder blade. Other bones were much like the seperate species, individual on all aspects. Then there were the dense and weak bones from Atlantean and Human fusion or hollow and weak from Dragon and Human. Many of her bones were part of one of these mixtures and parts of others, like a strange composition gradient. Ultimately, the left side was heavier and the right side was lighter. Her wrists were quite weak and she was literally hardheaded, despite its unusual hollowness and light weight. Skilled fighters often figured this out after observing her fighting techniques, although it wasn't too often than people are so observant. These hints are usually ignored... the beast she fought during the Star Test figured it out pretty fast though.

The sword still recognized her spirit energy... but Rivera felt that it couldn't recognize her grip. Her skill had decreased with her health. It had grown hard for her to wield Kairyu in the same way. It hurt her to use it for long periods of time, as her muscles have deteriorated. When she first came to Ria High, she had been 53 lbs or so, underweight for even Atlantean standards, partly because of her bone density imbalance but more for physical stress endured through harsh treatment and refusal to eat. After almost 4 months at this institution, she gained enough muscle and fat mass to be considered healthy, weighing up to 65 lbs. But immediately after the Star Test, her health declined drastically and she lost all the fat and muscle mass she gained, dropping down to 45 lbs from even greater physical stress in addition to mental distress. Only now was she able to gain back some of her lost weight, but her strength wasn't like it had been before. She wanted to believe that she could still survive close combat with speed rather than strength, but she knew that strength was one of the most important factors in close combat. Even against someone like Kestrel, she would undoubtedly lose.

"Well, Kira. Have you picked you code name yet? You'll need one, since it's best that most people don't address you by your real identity. Even assassins have their laws, and one of them is no disclosing identities to the authorities, no matter how much you hate them. Oh, and don't pick something like... Chickadee... okay?" She wasn't really going to use Kairyu... but when she talked about her work, she liked to have some company and comfort. Rivera had gotten too used to Kira pampering her all the time. She wanted to learn to survive for him without him following her all the time, to be able to live her days out without regrets and just let him go and let him stop worrying about her. She couldn't be protective of him anymore either. His strength was growing steadily faster than hers.

"If you can't think of one now, we'll work one out later. What you can't simply learn, Usagihana will and I will cook up something for." She smiled at him in an attempt to hide her worrying. Rivera wasn't as good at acting as most people, but she usually managed pretty well. This was different. She was hurting inside. Kira's words were so hard to bear. She would endure it for his sake, but as a mentally unstable person, she was more prone to being taken over by the part of her she didn't trust.  

[Shinygami]

"I was thinking of something like... Silverwing..." Kira said quietly. He knew the assassin's law about identities and such, but he didn't mind the reminder. He was still in training after all and would have to pay attention unlike in his usual classes. He had been cleaning the Angel Fang for a little bit, trying to get the bloodstains from Kestrel off of it. He finished cleaning it and sheathed it slowly, then drew his two hand guns, disassembling and reassembling them making sure everything was clean. "So then..." He started and slid a clip into the silver hand gun, Tenshi. "What's the first lesson?" He asked as he then slid a clip into the black gun, Diabolo.  

[Nyanfood]

Rivera smiled. She had worked hard to find a way for Kira to learn quickly. There were simple games that children play that built skills an assassin would need to use. She had modified them a little, but it will do. Suddenly slashing downwards with Kairyu, Rivera opened a space rift tear in space. Setting down her sword, she pulled it apart with her hands until it was large enough to expand on its own. At first, it was just a mixture of darkness and light, like TV static. When anyone could see again, they stood on two flat rocks in the middle of what seemed to be an enourmous, spacious lake. Lily pads and lotus flowers bloomed all over, casting vivid green shades over the blueness of the sky reflected in the water. What seemed like hundreds of bamboo poles were stuck into the lake bottom. None of them are closer than 4 feet apart.

"Lesson one. We'll play tag." She smiled. "You have to be smart enough to figure out how to catch me before I splat you with a paintball." How did the little paintball pistol find its way to her hand? "You are not allowed to fly or use magic. Really, all you're allowed to do is going to be what a normal human can. I will be doing the same. But you will not be allowed to make any sound. You will be allowed one weapon. Choose wisely." The creepy thing about this beautiful lake was that it was so big, the shore seemed half a mile away in each direction. Also, it was a silent world where no wind blew and nothing sounded. It was just an artificial program Rivera made in a seperate dimension for this exercise.

"When you're ready, jump onto a pole. The rocks will disappear... I won't let you take a break until you catch me." She smiled as she leapt up onto the top of the bamboo pole, as silent as this dimension world. "I never said this'll be easy. Be happy though... I had to go through all sorts of electrical shocks when I first trained. The worst you'll get is a rap on the head."  

[Shinygami]

Kira looked around at the strange world. "Interesting little place..." He said quietly. He decided on a simple silenced pistol that shot paintball rounds. "So... Once I hop onto a pole... You'll be starting right?" He asked quietly and sat on the rock. "One question though... Tagging is shooting the other right?" He asked quietly. He was interested in how this would all go down. He actually thought he could use a little more physical training anyway. I wonder just how silent I'll be... He thought with interest.  

[Nyanfood]

Rivera blinked. "Haven't you played tag before? You have to make contact with me... and if you fall into the water, you lose. I'm not going easy on you at all. The paintball gun's just mine because you're it. That's the only weapon I'm going to use." She spun the pistol lightly and easily. "You might want to choose a different weapon... paintball guns don't cause much damage." She looked around a little idly. "Oh, and one more thing. You have to make physical contact with somewhere that'll cause a person to have a fatal blow if they get hit by a knife or something like that. Like you have to tag my neck, my chest or somewhere on my head."

She leapt nimbly to another pole, again with total silence. Not even the wind shifted when she moved. "In other words, I can kick you off if I get the chance. You'll either have to dodge or grab onto another pole if you fall." Her smile was extremely playful, but her eyes told him that she was serious. "The moment you say start, I'll be ready. But I'll warn you, you'll have to use more than agility to catch me."  

[Shinygami]

"You know what... I'll just go hand to hand... I've been meaning to brush up on that anyway... So I cannot make a sound at all... Sounds easy..." Kira said and tossed the gun over his shoulder. "Start..." He said simply and hopped a few poles until he was next to her, moving without any sounds, he immediately swung with his right hand in an attempt to hit her ribs. The rib cage was usually a fatal blow if a knife were slid silently between to cut into the lung, so he was hoping he could end it quick and easily.  

[Nyanfood]

Rivera was there one moment and gone the next. It didn't even look like she moved, more like she teleported. Before his strike even got within five inches of her, she was sitting on the top of a bamboo pole on the other side, looking as bored as hell. She gave him a look that conveyed just that message, that she was bored... but her eyes sparkled green, meaning that she was joking around with him. Rivera pushed her hand against the top of the pole she sat on and levered herself up into a one handed headstand, pushing herself silently onto the next pole with a windlike grace. She crounched on that one. The poles were about three or four inches wide each, and quite light. Even when someone as light as her stood on it, it swayed back and forth. Rivera looked at Kira, almost as if taunting him. This move was just to let him observe her speed. It was too early to let him counter an actual speed attack sequence from her. He'll simply fall and lose the will to try again. She had to bait his impatience and his desire to prevail.  

[Shinygami]

Kira sighed quietly and quickly did multiple handsprings and leaps from the poles. He observed Rivera quietly as he tried to find an opening he could target. He soon handspringed from another pole, twisting his body in an attempt to spin kick her in the head. Hopefully she would lose her balance and the next move, an open handed tap to her chest, would connect. He executed the second strike quickly hoping to catch her off guard if the kick connected, if the kick hadn't, he'd just wind up sprawled out on the poles with his limbs outstretched trying to keep from falling.