Juri Arisugawa was not one easily affected by her surroundings. As she wandered into her dorm room after a brisk walk through the cool night air she found herself to be sweltering hot, however.
She had already started to remove her outer jacket before opening the door to her personal room. Honestly, if the maintenance men could have just asked what needed overall improvement instead of just coming to fix all the small complaints, the air conditioning would have been taken care of long before now. As it was it had been broken - what? Two years? Juri always did have such a hard time distinguishing how long she'd been taking classes here at Ohtori, let alone any other measurements of time.
The student council member knew what she needed. The same thing she always needed at the end of each day - a shower. It was her outlet; her means of release. Today she was certainly had a reason for that. After all, how often does an inexperienced person in the art defeat the former kendo team captain at his own game?
Juri completely undressed, leaving the locket on its designated place on the edge of her desk. She then padded lightly across the carpet to the bathroom on the tile. The tile itself comforted her. She felt it personified herself in many ways: plain, smooth, serene, and cool. Well, she was not always cool, but she did envy the tile for its ability to stay so even with such extreme heat around it, oppressing it.
She wished that she could claim that the water was refreshing. Not that she could claim it was otherwise, but it still somehow left something to be desired to her. No one and nothing ever satisfied her and if asked she would have to say she didn't know why. But no one ever asked the right questions, either.
She exited the shower quietly, doing her best to stay off of the cold tile. She toweled at her hair only briefly as she always did. Privately, she really hated the curls on the sides of her face and extended drying always made them more prominent. The student council member shook off any evidence that she was anything special as she pulled the pale, curve-hugging chemise over her head.
As she tossed the towel negligently over the back of a chair, she heard a crashing sound outside. Juri jumped slightly, startled, and then headed quickly over to the window. A shadowed figure, small and possibly female, was running towards the side alley next to the building. Some bikes were scattered carelessly, knocked from the rack just below her sill. Juri's attention darted quickly back to the figure. Her heart nearly stopped.
From the highlights of the lamplight outside, she caught the sight of purple hair, short and tousled. The clothes the figure was wearing was obviously the female Ohtori uniform, complete with aqua skirt. The shadow nearly dove into the darkness of the alley with the running motion of someone afraid of being caught.
The woman shook her head dazedly, unsure as to what she had just witnessed. The one running...she had seemed to her like Shiori. Or had it been someone like Anthy? But the light had been to harsh to tell. Even now the shade of hair was fading from her mind.
Juri felt her hand rise to her unadorned neckline in search of the certain comforting object. She closed the shades and felt her eyebrows nit together as she headed to the desk to pick up the locket.
As she reached down for it however, she paused. Moving her hand slightly she observed the necklace. Its gold finish seemed very palor at that moment. The crevices of the design seemed to be dark, neverending holes and the surface glared back a pale whitish color. In her head, all she could hear were Saionji's words over and over again.
"Can't have too many miracles in one night, can you Juri-san?"
And her short, crisp response echoed faintly in the background. "Hardly."
The fencer's hand edged unconciously away from the jewelry, shaking visibly. Juri's fuzzy vision cleared as she blinked suddenly, snapping from her reverie. The echo of her response to the Ex-Vice President's gripe remained in her head, though it seemed much more distant.
By this point, the woman had become frustrated with herself. Angrily, the panther's hand pounced upon the links of the chain, creating a dull thud against the wood. She snatched it upwards hastily and fumbled with the clasp for a good many seconds before she found herself capable of linking it. Somehow, the click seemed so very final. So much so that Juri could not help, but bring her hands before herself again, scanning them frantically. As she watched them, they too began slowly fading with that whitish sickly glow.
The cool exterior had since been broken, but now hardly any of it remained as she scrambled to remove the necklace. *Anything* to get rid of this awful light! Too many odd things had happened today and this was just the thing to top it all off. First that close encounter with who Juri could only assume to be Dios when she and Miki had been walking through a shortcut in the woods to his dorm. Then the duel with Saionji (and how he figured out about the encounter she'd never know, she had a feeling) and now this stupid locket.
Catching a flash of light from out of the corner of her eye she half turned to see herself in the full length mirror stopping for a moment. The panther's lithe body was shown off in a few more places than normal from her current struggles. Her elbows were bent above her head as she reached for the clasp and as such the chemise hung even more awkwardly. But, quite suddenly, the woman saw much more than she had expected.
A shadowy pair of snowy-white feathered wings adorned her back, splayed somewhat oddly, but certainly there. Juri blinked and shook her head lightly and briefly in an attempt to clear her obviously overwrought mind. As the feline-like-eyes noticed all too well when they opened, however, the wings remained. And then, just as suddenly as she'd noticed them, the wings burst apart - sending feathers strewn about the room - and it was all appearantly orchestrated by the simple chain that hung about her neck which pulsed almost *happily* with the destruction.
Thourougly frightened now, she gave up on attempting to remove the chain normally and began tugging at it fiercely. Her athletic arm muscles litterally bulged at the effort and the necklace itself was burning her neckline, but the infernal thing refused to budge. She tugged relentlessly, over and over...
After what seemed like an eternity the chain shattered with an amazingly loud noise. It was a ringing sound and broken links of gold glittered their way into every corner of the room. Panting from her efforts, the panther could do nothing more than look around. No evidence of any struggle could be seen and no feathers littered the floor. Head shaking now she looked again at her clenched fist that held the locket.
As her fist opened to reveal it, she found that the white light pulsed once brightly - highlighting the crevices of her hand and very nearly blinding her. Through squinted eyes she watched the sickly light faded completely from the gold finish with a last faint flicker. Juri stared at it for a good minute to be sure nothing else happened. By that time her breathing had thankfully evened out.
She firmly set the locket back in its place on the desk. Broken pieces of the chain hung precariously over the edge. Climbing onto her bed she curled up to try to fall asleep. She pulled the blanket tightly around her despite the sweat that she perspired because of it. She stayed in this little ball for a long time before she could actually manage to fall into a restless sleep.
She couldn't fathom even in her dreams what had truely occured that night. Never was it the right answer...
~~Elsewhere~~
A purple haired girl ran into the building and pressed the button for the elevator. Only when the elevator door was closed did she take the time to catch her breath. Leaning against the wall she rested. There was a ping as it reached the designated floor and the girl walked out of it calmly. She shook out her sweat soaked hair. "You know what I think?" she inquired of the figure lounging on the couch.
"What's that?" came the mellow voice.
"I think she's figuring out the magic of it all..." The girl stopped before the couch, clearly awaiting a response to her statement.
The figure smiled slowly.
"Hardly."
~~
She had already started to remove her outer jacket before opening the door to her personal room. Honestly, if the maintenance men could have just asked what needed overall improvement instead of just coming to fix all the small complaints, the air conditioning would have been taken care of long before now. As it was it had been broken - what? Two years? Juri always did have such a hard time distinguishing how long she'd been taking classes here at Ohtori, let alone any other measurements of time.
The student council member knew what she needed. The same thing she always needed at the end of each day - a shower. It was her outlet; her means of release. Today she was certainly had a reason for that. After all, how often does an inexperienced person in the art defeat the former kendo team captain at his own game?
Juri completely undressed, leaving the locket on its designated place on the edge of her desk. She then padded lightly across the carpet to the bathroom on the tile. The tile itself comforted her. She felt it personified herself in many ways: plain, smooth, serene, and cool. Well, she was not always cool, but she did envy the tile for its ability to stay so even with such extreme heat around it, oppressing it.
She wished that she could claim that the water was refreshing. Not that she could claim it was otherwise, but it still somehow left something to be desired to her. No one and nothing ever satisfied her and if asked she would have to say she didn't know why. But no one ever asked the right questions, either.
She exited the shower quietly, doing her best to stay off of the cold tile. She toweled at her hair only briefly as she always did. Privately, she really hated the curls on the sides of her face and extended drying always made them more prominent. The student council member shook off any evidence that she was anything special as she pulled the pale, curve-hugging chemise over her head.
As she tossed the towel negligently over the back of a chair, she heard a crashing sound outside. Juri jumped slightly, startled, and then headed quickly over to the window. A shadowed figure, small and possibly female, was running towards the side alley next to the building. Some bikes were scattered carelessly, knocked from the rack just below her sill. Juri's attention darted quickly back to the figure. Her heart nearly stopped.
From the highlights of the lamplight outside, she caught the sight of purple hair, short and tousled. The clothes the figure was wearing was obviously the female Ohtori uniform, complete with aqua skirt. The shadow nearly dove into the darkness of the alley with the running motion of someone afraid of being caught.
The woman shook her head dazedly, unsure as to what she had just witnessed. The one running...she had seemed to her like Shiori. Or had it been someone like Anthy? But the light had been to harsh to tell. Even now the shade of hair was fading from her mind.
Juri felt her hand rise to her unadorned neckline in search of the certain comforting object. She closed the shades and felt her eyebrows nit together as she headed to the desk to pick up the locket.
As she reached down for it however, she paused. Moving her hand slightly she observed the necklace. Its gold finish seemed very palor at that moment. The crevices of the design seemed to be dark, neverending holes and the surface glared back a pale whitish color. In her head, all she could hear were Saionji's words over and over again.
"Can't have too many miracles in one night, can you Juri-san?"
And her short, crisp response echoed faintly in the background. "Hardly."
The fencer's hand edged unconciously away from the jewelry, shaking visibly. Juri's fuzzy vision cleared as she blinked suddenly, snapping from her reverie. The echo of her response to the Ex-Vice President's gripe remained in her head, though it seemed much more distant.
By this point, the woman had become frustrated with herself. Angrily, the panther's hand pounced upon the links of the chain, creating a dull thud against the wood. She snatched it upwards hastily and fumbled with the clasp for a good many seconds before she found herself capable of linking it. Somehow, the click seemed so very final. So much so that Juri could not help, but bring her hands before herself again, scanning them frantically. As she watched them, they too began slowly fading with that whitish sickly glow.
The cool exterior had since been broken, but now hardly any of it remained as she scrambled to remove the necklace. *Anything* to get rid of this awful light! Too many odd things had happened today and this was just the thing to top it all off. First that close encounter with who Juri could only assume to be Dios when she and Miki had been walking through a shortcut in the woods to his dorm. Then the duel with Saionji (and how he figured out about the encounter she'd never know, she had a feeling) and now this stupid locket.
Catching a flash of light from out of the corner of her eye she half turned to see herself in the full length mirror stopping for a moment. The panther's lithe body was shown off in a few more places than normal from her current struggles. Her elbows were bent above her head as she reached for the clasp and as such the chemise hung even more awkwardly. But, quite suddenly, the woman saw much more than she had expected.
A shadowy pair of snowy-white feathered wings adorned her back, splayed somewhat oddly, but certainly there. Juri blinked and shook her head lightly and briefly in an attempt to clear her obviously overwrought mind. As the feline-like-eyes noticed all too well when they opened, however, the wings remained. And then, just as suddenly as she'd noticed them, the wings burst apart - sending feathers strewn about the room - and it was all appearantly orchestrated by the simple chain that hung about her neck which pulsed almost *happily* with the destruction.
Thourougly frightened now, she gave up on attempting to remove the chain normally and began tugging at it fiercely. Her athletic arm muscles litterally bulged at the effort and the necklace itself was burning her neckline, but the infernal thing refused to budge. She tugged relentlessly, over and over...
After what seemed like an eternity the chain shattered with an amazingly loud noise. It was a ringing sound and broken links of gold glittered their way into every corner of the room. Panting from her efforts, the panther could do nothing more than look around. No evidence of any struggle could be seen and no feathers littered the floor. Head shaking now she looked again at her clenched fist that held the locket.
As her fist opened to reveal it, she found that the white light pulsed once brightly - highlighting the crevices of her hand and very nearly blinding her. Through squinted eyes she watched the sickly light faded completely from the gold finish with a last faint flicker. Juri stared at it for a good minute to be sure nothing else happened. By that time her breathing had thankfully evened out.
She firmly set the locket back in its place on the desk. Broken pieces of the chain hung precariously over the edge. Climbing onto her bed she curled up to try to fall asleep. She pulled the blanket tightly around her despite the sweat that she perspired because of it. She stayed in this little ball for a long time before she could actually manage to fall into a restless sleep.
She couldn't fathom even in her dreams what had truely occured that night. Never was it the right answer...
~~Elsewhere~~
A purple haired girl ran into the building and pressed the button for the elevator. Only when the elevator door was closed did she take the time to catch her breath. Leaning against the wall she rested. There was a ping as it reached the designated floor and the girl walked out of it calmly. She shook out her sweat soaked hair. "You know what I think?" she inquired of the figure lounging on the couch.
"What's that?" came the mellow voice.
"I think she's figuring out the magic of it all..." The girl stopped before the couch, clearly awaiting a response to her statement.
The figure smiled slowly.
"Hardly."
~~