Hey everyone, I'm back. So, life threw me a curveball in the shape of failing assignments and mental breakdowns two weeks before exams, with the feelings of inadequacy, stress and lack of real friends. I, unfortunately, could not yell "PLOT TWIST" and move on.
I had become side-tracked with where this story was going, and was focused on making my characters too powerful, or unrealistic, and I realized this when I read the plot for this story.
Yes, all of them are powerful, but not at the expense of nothing. There is only so much that the human body can take before it shuts down; Naru is a good example. I needed to re-write some of the rules where Lin's shiki applied, and where some of Lin's power actually came from.
There is so much that I needed to do to pull this story back on track, as well as my life, so it was put on hold for a long time, in order to cope with schoolwork and counselling sessions. I'm not going to apologize for taking so long; I am in the middle of winter, and winter means exams, and come summer, more exams, and all sorts of practical assessments that pop up.
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Hopefully, the wait is well worth it.
Tori.
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Cho could count the number of times she had done something stupid on one hand. That was because her uncle was a no-nonsense kind of guy, and he wasn't above disciplining her if she got too out of hand, usually in the form of a scathing lecture, complete with his ''I'm very disappointed in you, did I not raise you better?" face.
This moment, however, as they were running through the forest from some sort of cult group who were all set on killing herself and Rose for some pagan god who needed a virgin sacrifice, was nearing the top of her list, right after pranking her uncle with flour bombs and water.
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Rose's ankle was all healed, so it made running easier, but they were drastically at a disadvantage, because they had no idea where they were. Normally, when her uncle let her go on a school trip, he'd make her memorize all of the surrounding area, so that if the occasion arose, she'd know where to run. When they had left Panther's, Cho had assumed that they were near Mt. Aso.
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Obviously not.
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Rose stumbled behind her, and Cho spun, ready to help her up, until she saw why.
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Rose had an arrow in her thigh.
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Cho closed her eyes, and grabbed Rose's hand, even as the cult caught up with them.
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Everything went black.
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To say Koujo was furious was an understatement. In fact, Oliver wasn't too sure he had seen the Chinese man this angry before. Sure, there was the annoyed angry, and the frustrated angry, but if Oliver didn't know better, he would say that this was a concerned angry.
Nevertheless, whoever was on the end of the phone was receiving a tongue lashing.
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"Let me get this straight. You, a highly paid and successful assassin, somehow lost track of two sixteen year old girls, in your own territory, and are now looking for them, despite the fact that they went missing three days ago?"
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There was a quick explanation, and Oliver watched as Koujo exploded into angry Chinese, causing Maya to wince, and Ren to block her ears. Whatever he was saying, it wasn't pleasant, or worth repeating.
There was a pause, and then an acidic sounding comment coming from the other end of the line. Lin replied, just as coldly, and ended the call straight after. He ran a hand through his hair, and slumped against a wall, sliding down it until he hit the floor, his knees against his chest. There was a thick silence, and no one wanted to break it.
Lin rested his head on his knees, and his entire body language screamed 'exhaustion.' There was a breath of wind that flew past Oliver, before a wolf materialized next to Lin. Ayako looked to be holding back a scream, while Monk palmed his knife, and Mai took a step back.
The wolf, who Oliver now recognized as Láng, nudged his master with his nose, whining softly. Lin's hand reached out, and tangled in his coat, but that was the only movement he made. Láng whined again, pressing himself closer to Lin, and wrapping his tail around Lin's arm.
Maya moved forward slowly.
"Koujo?"
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There was a knock on the door. It was a patterned knock; three short, two long, then three short. Before anyone could stop her, Ren ran up to the door, and opened it.
"Imo Ruka!"
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Ren hugged the curvaceous ginger, talking a million miles an hour in Korean. Ruka picked up Ren, and propped her on her hip. Ren tugged one of the curls, and giggled, when Ruka flicked her nose.
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Mai frowned, trying to think where she'd seen her before. A memory was helpfully supplied, of Ruka at a kitchen table, with piles of books around her, but Mai pushed it away, digging into her more recent memories, until it hit her.
Mai froze, her eyes wide.
"Tanaka-sensei?"
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Ruka turned to look at her, frowning, before looking her up and down, face scrunched.
"You don't look like one of my interns. How old are you?"
"Ruka,' Maya interrupted,' she knows."
Ruka blinked, before her face cleared. She turned back to Mai, shaking her head.
"Tanaka-sensei is my older sister. I'm a lawyer. As for you, young lady…" Ruka turned towards Maya, glaring. Maya slumped in her seat, attempting to become one with the wall.
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"What now?"
Ruka raised an eyebrow at the defiant tone, before launching into a rather impressive lecture.
"You are the most irresponsible, reckless, immature, hare-brained girl I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. No matter how many times Koujo and I tell you not to use your necklace as a go-to for exorcisms, you still do. Has it ever occurred to you what would happen if the space in the gem ran out? Your mother made it for protection. Hell, we watched her carve the runes and add the spells to it, and we know that it was never meant to be used for housing any spirit, let alone a malicious one!"
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"But I didn't." Maya muttered. Ruka paused, and placed Ren on the ground.
"What did you say?" Ruka whispered, her voice screaming danger.
Mai shivered, and moved closer to Naru, who was watching with interest.
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"I didn't fail. If you have room in your thinking for failure, then you will fail. If you believe that you will succeed, then you will. It's all about the attacker's mind-set."
Maya folded her arms, glaring back at Ruka. Ruka huffed, and clenched her teeth.
"I don't have time to deal with this. Where's Koujo?"
Maya jerked her head towards the wall, where Lin hadn't moved from his position. Ruka swore, and started towards him, crouching down in front of him.
"Koujo? Ko, can you hear me?"
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She touched his knee.
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The world exploded into white light.
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Madoka Mori was having a well-deserved break. Currently, she was sitting at a small, out of the way table in an old fashioned café, opposite her boyfriend of numerous years, Tajo Li.
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Dr Tajo Li was 25 (very young for a doctor, but he worked his ass off for it), and ran a small hospital near the red-light districts of Shibuya, called Misfits. He was tall, with messy black hair that had some red highlights in it, and, Madoka thought, the most amazing eyes in the world. One eye was a dark blue, and the other was a vibrant green.
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As Madoka sipped her tea and chatted with Tajo about small things, and occasionally ranting about impossible patients and certain teenagers with obscene powers, a burst of power filled the air.
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Madoka had the strange experience of suffocating. Sure, it was difficult to breathe normally in the city, but this felt cloying, and heavy. Shortly after, a flare of white light raced along the ground, followed closely by a flare of green, silver and gold, her back itched, and her hand went to the small tattoo that sat behind her left ear, which was normally covered by her hair.
It was pulsing in time with her heartbeat, and felt inflamed. She swore softly.
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Tajo, having a large amount of PK-LT, received the more unfortunate side effects.
His head felt like it had exploded, and he doubled over, the shadows thankfully hiding his reaction from the rest of the café. His body felt like he had just experienced the entirety of Shibuya's injuries, from grazed knees to bullet wounds to acid burns, and he gritted his teeth against the moan of pain that threatened to push itself past his lips.
The tattoo of his sister's name flared to life across his left shoulder blade, and something inside his core snapped, shattered, fused, realigned, reshaped and finally settled with a dull throbbing, that pulsated along with his rapidly pounding heart.
His eyes locked with Madoka's, and something clicked.
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"Shit."
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Kasumi Moriko prided herself on being the best in the business. Being an assassin was dangerous work, yet she had managed to live to thirty, while other active assassin's died off around eighteen. However, as she ran through the forest that spanned throughout her territory, she cursed every deity that she could think of (and making some up on the spot) that she hadn't been paying attention to Wildcat's niece.
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Kasumi, known more commonly as Panther among the assassin circles, hadn't considered that the two girls may have tried to make a break for it once the English girl, Rose, was healed, and had paid dearly for it. Not only was the phone call to Wildcat a complete disaster in terms of getting her point across (not that she could ever win an argument against him), but she may have mentioned that she had an early start.
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Skidding to a halt around a small grove of yew trees, she paused, catching her breath. There had been signs of a struggle here, recently, and there was blood on the ground.
A lot of it.
Examining the area around the site, she spotted a small symbol carved into the base of the tree. Looking closer, she exploded into Chinese, a stream of vernacular that would have made the most hardened sailor blush.
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Looking around, she spotted another one, where they must have picked up the other girl. Picking up her cell phone, she dialled an old friend of hers, back from the glory days of ring-fighting. They picked up on the second ring.
"Hawk, reporting in."
Panther replied, her voice curt.
"It's Panther. Centipede is here."
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"Damn it all to hell."
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In a small, out-of-the-way house, a woman called Fox paused while kneading bread, her PK tingling. Her shiki, Xia, paused in sharpening her knives, and looked out of the window. A wolf spirit that had made itself at home in Fox's kitchen sat up, head cocked to one side and ears pricked.
Fox tilted her head, and walked outside, digging her toes into the damp soil, and taking deep breaths. Energy snapped and crackled around her form as her fingers danced in intricate patterns in the air in front of her, as she tried to find the disturbance in the atmosphere. Grasping at threads, and discarding them just as quickly, she searched, before she found one that had a familiar feeling to it.
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Grabbing the strand, she tugged on it, trying to find the reason of the disturbance, before it stung her. With a hiss of pain, she let it go, rubbing her wrist where it had lashed out at her. Shaking her hand, she sorted through the feelings that she had gathered from the strand, before she sighed.
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"Fucking wonderful."
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Deep within a cave system, the assassin known as Centipede watched over his captives with a sadistic smile curving his lips, eyes roaming over the two teenage girls.
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With a cruel laugh, he walked away, mind plotting his enemy's demise.
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"Soon Wildcat,' he muttered gleefully,' you'll be mine. I will have my revenge."
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Teaser. Yes, I know that it isn't enough after an obscenely long break, but this was all that my mind could come up with. Some excerpts, before we get into the real heavy stuff. Hopefully, this will help me outline the story better.
Till the next chapter!
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Cheers,
Tori.
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