The Main Hall was a large amphitheater like room. Large wall hangings were hanging for the ceiling with various written characters on them. The hangings were all black with silver writing. They matched the dark decor of the school.
However the rest of the room stood out in stark contrast. Bright white walls reflected the harsh white light that poured ceaselessly from the high powered bulbs set in the walls and ceiling. It was actually painful to Kisa's eyes since they had been attuning themselves to the dark.
She sneezed as the bright lights caused a tingling in her nose. "Why is it so bright?" she asked Kenneth softly.
He grunted something that she didn't catch and moved her onto a strange character on the floor. "Don't move from this spot," he ordered. "I'm going to find Frost and bring him over. . . . . " he wandered away from her.
"Ki. . . . right?" Ryu's voice floated to her ears. "You look like your still adjusting to the brilliant lighting in here." He smiled and held his hand out towards her. "Ryu Takada, year 16, rating 521, Commander of Cell Two," he introduced himself.
Kisa shook his hand reluctantly. He was trying to kill her after all. "Ki Souma, level 13, rating 5, Cell One, but you probably already knew that. . . . ." she said, letting her voice trail off.
He smiled. "I wanted to apologize for last night. I'd been up all day and was quiet grouchy. Your presence caught me off guard and I didn't welcome you properly."
Kisa was silent. When he said she caught him off guard, did he mean in the swamp? In their quarters he hadn't seemed to be off guard at all. He had seemed rather friendly when compared with the room's occupants; not at all grouchy like he was claiming.
She forced herself to keep in mind that he wanted to kill her. "Well . . . . . ." she managed to say before a slender hand dropped heavily onto her shoulder.
"Ki! I couldn't find Frost anywhere, so I'm going to have to act as his second to initiate you into our cell properly," Kenneth announced.
Kisa almost jumped a foot in the air when he touched her. 'I'm going to have to get better really quick. . . . .' she realized. 'What if he had thought it would be fun to pick me up from behind and hug me?'
She was in a dangerous situation with the curse that was on her and the presence of nobody but boys around her. Just one slip up and it would all be over.
"I hope you don't mind taking off all of your clothes and dancing around naked. . . it's part of the initialization. . . . " Kenneth said.
Kisa paled. "I have to . . . . . dance. . . naked?" she moaned. Getting turned into a tiger suddenly became the least of her problems.
Ryu shoved Kenneth away from her sharply. "Don't listen to that asshole," he told her. "The initialization doesn't require you to take off any of your clothes. In fact, he can't do it without Commander Frost because the three of you have to share blood."
Kisa glanced back at Kenneth who was scowling at her and Ryu. Then she sifted her gaze back to Ryu. He was smiling pleasantly at her; being helpful and friendly. Even knowing what he was planning, she was having a hard time not being grateful for his help.
"If you want, I can help you through the opening ceremonies. They'll take place before the Initialization," Ryu offered.
Kenneth glanced at Kisa disdainfully. "I don't see why you're being so friendly to a weakling like him," he said. "Look at the idiot, I mean just take a look at his hair. That should tell you everything that you need to know about him - he's a weirdo!"
Ryu's demeanor changed, chilling the air around him if possible. "I don't expect an imbecile like you to be able to see the potential this boy has. You're far to preoccupied in keeping yourself as close to the top to recognize the talent Ki has. You can't even meet the expectations of your - "
"DAMM YOU!" Kenneth shouted. He loosed a handful of shuriken at Ryu who easily battered the throwing stars away from himself without drawing a weapon; using only his gloved hands.
Kisa stared in shock as Ryu vanished and appeared in front of Kenneth, kneeing him with a rising knee strike to the mouth.
Kenneth's head snapped back and blood formed at his mouth. Ryu flipped one of his opponent's shuriken lightly in the air before flinging it towards the younger boy.
Kenneth, who had hit the ground, glanced up, raising his forearms to take the impact of the throwing star away from his face. Ryu was known never to tone his strikes down and this was no exception.
As a ninja, Kenneth was good, but in a completely different league then Commander Ryu. In fact the difference in their ratings was astonishing considering that there was only one year difference between their ages.
As a result the only option he had at the moment was to guard himself as best as he could. Personally he knew better then to fall prey to Ryu's taunts, but his anger at Kisa's arrival and apparent ineptitude had already strained his patience to the near breaking point.
Kisa watched as the bladed shuriken shot towards Kenneth. Without really thinking, she reached out and grabbed the spinning weapon, wincing as her hand got cut open.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked Ryu. She reached her uninjured hand towards Kenneth who roughly pushed it aside and stood up on his own.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" he demanded.
"I was trying to save you," she said, echoing what she had told Briar in the swamp. She was getting a weird feeling of deja vu and had a feeling that he would claim that he hadn't been losing.
"Did you really think that I was losing?" Kenneth demanded. He looked more offended by her offered help then anything.
Kisa sighed. "It didn't really matter, did it?" she asked. "We're supposed to be a team. . . . . right?" She was making things up as she went along, for once saying things just as quickly as they came to her mind.
"As your teammate, isn't it my responsibility to help you whenever your in trouble? Isn't it the essence of teamwork to work together to achieve a common goal?" She surprised herself by adding.
A brief look of scorn passed across Ryu's face before he held out his hand to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Kenneth could have blocked that shot without your help you know."
Kisa turned away from him. "I believe that if you hadn't thrown the weapon at all none of this would be happening - "
"Are you trying to say that I should have let this idiot try and hit me again?" Ryu asked pleasantly. "My offer on the opening - "
"I'll pass," Kisa said sharply. She turned away from him and focused on the front of the room where, she noticed, both Briar and Frost, were watching her.
She forced the tears that were gathering in her eyes to stay there and not fall down her cheeks. The tears were forming because of pain. Her left hand had been ripped up the throwing star even with the protection that her gloves had offered her. It hurt, but not as much as being turned away from Kenneth for helping him. She was alone at Shinobi Academy even more then she was at home.
Back at her old school she had Haru, Hiro, and Tohru to rely on for moral support when things started to go wrong. Even the other members of the Jyuunishi and her mother were comforting to be around.
Back at her old school, she didn't have to hide everything about herself. She didn't have to try and be this different. Everyone knew that she was strange and all she had to hide was the curse and how much their words really effected her.
But at Shinobi Academy. . . . . . . . she couldn't even let anyone know her real name without being killed. And it felt like everyone wanted to kill her or at least hurt her in some way.
The ceremonies started, and she followed without help from anyone. Ryu had offered to help, but after she rejected him, he headed to a different section of the room. As for Kenneth, he stood beside her, silently fuming with fury at her assistance during his fight with Ryu.
It wasn't that hard to follow the ceremony. There was a quick series of hand motions, but they had covered that in the hall on the way to the Main Hall. Then they had to speak a series of words that she didn't understand, but Kenneth had mentioned them in the hall as well. In spite of being a second behind on everything, she managed to get through the ten minute opening ceremony without much difficulty.
What came next was a little bit harder. Kenneth and her were called to the front of the room - which had to have over a hundred ninjas gathered.
"As many of you know, Commander Frost, leader of Cell One recently had a causality in his ranks," Briar began without preamble when they reached the front of the room.
"Due to the unexpected death of Sou, the inability to reform the cell without breaking another cell, and the necessity of filling the position before the new term officially started, Ki Souma, one of our newest recruits, will be acting at Frost's finale cell member," Briar continued.
"Thus, we have an Initialization to cover before classes begin." He finished his small speech with those words.
He held a long dagger out to Frost and another to Kenneth. They both cut their left palms along a thin line that looked like a scar. Blood welled up immediately where they had cut and they held their hands over a black goblet.
After a moment, they both handed the daggers they had used to her. She took them in her right hand hesitantly. She wasn't sure what she had to do.
Briar stepped up behind her and whispered. "Cut into your left hand two parallel slashes. Be careful, the daggers are sharp."
Kisa wanted to look back at him and scream that she wouldn't willingly cut herself, but since that might have gotten her killed, she restrained herself and pressed the first blade into her already bleeding left hand.
She hissed as the blade cut deeper then she had meant it to. It was sharper then she thought it would be. Keeping her mouth clenched tight, she raised the other dagger and drew it across just below where she hoped the first cut was; it was hard to tell with all the blood coating her hand now.
"Now hold your hand over the goblet," Briar said softly. "Don't put the daggers down at all."
For several moments she held her bleeding hand over the goblet. Then Briar spoke again. "Good, now I want you to cut another slash onto Frost and Kenneth's left hands, just below the other cut."
Frost was first. He held his hand out to her, his icy blue eyes locked on hers. She drew the blade across his palm, wincing as she cut deeper the previous cut was. He didn't show any sign of caring about the cut.
She moved her attention over to Kenneth. He held out his hand, his eyes dark and angry as she drew the second dagger across his palm, leaving a deep gash.
By now Kisa was starting to feel slightly light headed. She was still bleeding and had a feeling that she might be going into shock due to the deepness of the cuts she had inflicted on herself.
"Throw the daggers to the floor and press your left hand to Frost's and hold it there for one minute. Then do the same to Kenneth," Briar quietly ordered.
She pressed her hand to Frost's hand, noting that his blood felt frigid against hers. Somehow his blood felt right in spite of being cold. It suited him, although she couldn't explain why.
She counted to what she hoped what sixty in her mind and then moved her hand to Kenneth's. He winced as she pressed her hand to his. A look of intense dislike passing through his eyes for a brief moment before being replaced by reluctant awe.
The awe really surprised her. She made a quick note to find out why it shocked him so much. Then they moved their hands apart and the Initialization was over.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Author's notes;
I have nothing to say except, please review me!
Oh, and thanks for reading this far. \_/
Kissa-chan
However the rest of the room stood out in stark contrast. Bright white walls reflected the harsh white light that poured ceaselessly from the high powered bulbs set in the walls and ceiling. It was actually painful to Kisa's eyes since they had been attuning themselves to the dark.
She sneezed as the bright lights caused a tingling in her nose. "Why is it so bright?" she asked Kenneth softly.
He grunted something that she didn't catch and moved her onto a strange character on the floor. "Don't move from this spot," he ordered. "I'm going to find Frost and bring him over. . . . . " he wandered away from her.
"Ki. . . . right?" Ryu's voice floated to her ears. "You look like your still adjusting to the brilliant lighting in here." He smiled and held his hand out towards her. "Ryu Takada, year 16, rating 521, Commander of Cell Two," he introduced himself.
Kisa shook his hand reluctantly. He was trying to kill her after all. "Ki Souma, level 13, rating 5, Cell One, but you probably already knew that. . . . ." she said, letting her voice trail off.
He smiled. "I wanted to apologize for last night. I'd been up all day and was quiet grouchy. Your presence caught me off guard and I didn't welcome you properly."
Kisa was silent. When he said she caught him off guard, did he mean in the swamp? In their quarters he hadn't seemed to be off guard at all. He had seemed rather friendly when compared with the room's occupants; not at all grouchy like he was claiming.
She forced herself to keep in mind that he wanted to kill her. "Well . . . . . ." she managed to say before a slender hand dropped heavily onto her shoulder.
"Ki! I couldn't find Frost anywhere, so I'm going to have to act as his second to initiate you into our cell properly," Kenneth announced.
Kisa almost jumped a foot in the air when he touched her. 'I'm going to have to get better really quick. . . . .' she realized. 'What if he had thought it would be fun to pick me up from behind and hug me?'
She was in a dangerous situation with the curse that was on her and the presence of nobody but boys around her. Just one slip up and it would all be over.
"I hope you don't mind taking off all of your clothes and dancing around naked. . . it's part of the initialization. . . . " Kenneth said.
Kisa paled. "I have to . . . . . dance. . . naked?" she moaned. Getting turned into a tiger suddenly became the least of her problems.
Ryu shoved Kenneth away from her sharply. "Don't listen to that asshole," he told her. "The initialization doesn't require you to take off any of your clothes. In fact, he can't do it without Commander Frost because the three of you have to share blood."
Kisa glanced back at Kenneth who was scowling at her and Ryu. Then she sifted her gaze back to Ryu. He was smiling pleasantly at her; being helpful and friendly. Even knowing what he was planning, she was having a hard time not being grateful for his help.
"If you want, I can help you through the opening ceremonies. They'll take place before the Initialization," Ryu offered.
Kenneth glanced at Kisa disdainfully. "I don't see why you're being so friendly to a weakling like him," he said. "Look at the idiot, I mean just take a look at his hair. That should tell you everything that you need to know about him - he's a weirdo!"
Ryu's demeanor changed, chilling the air around him if possible. "I don't expect an imbecile like you to be able to see the potential this boy has. You're far to preoccupied in keeping yourself as close to the top to recognize the talent Ki has. You can't even meet the expectations of your - "
"DAMM YOU!" Kenneth shouted. He loosed a handful of shuriken at Ryu who easily battered the throwing stars away from himself without drawing a weapon; using only his gloved hands.
Kisa stared in shock as Ryu vanished and appeared in front of Kenneth, kneeing him with a rising knee strike to the mouth.
Kenneth's head snapped back and blood formed at his mouth. Ryu flipped one of his opponent's shuriken lightly in the air before flinging it towards the younger boy.
Kenneth, who had hit the ground, glanced up, raising his forearms to take the impact of the throwing star away from his face. Ryu was known never to tone his strikes down and this was no exception.
As a ninja, Kenneth was good, but in a completely different league then Commander Ryu. In fact the difference in their ratings was astonishing considering that there was only one year difference between their ages.
As a result the only option he had at the moment was to guard himself as best as he could. Personally he knew better then to fall prey to Ryu's taunts, but his anger at Kisa's arrival and apparent ineptitude had already strained his patience to the near breaking point.
Kisa watched as the bladed shuriken shot towards Kenneth. Without really thinking, she reached out and grabbed the spinning weapon, wincing as her hand got cut open.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked Ryu. She reached her uninjured hand towards Kenneth who roughly pushed it aside and stood up on his own.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" he demanded.
"I was trying to save you," she said, echoing what she had told Briar in the swamp. She was getting a weird feeling of deja vu and had a feeling that he would claim that he hadn't been losing.
"Did you really think that I was losing?" Kenneth demanded. He looked more offended by her offered help then anything.
Kisa sighed. "It didn't really matter, did it?" she asked. "We're supposed to be a team. . . . . right?" She was making things up as she went along, for once saying things just as quickly as they came to her mind.
"As your teammate, isn't it my responsibility to help you whenever your in trouble? Isn't it the essence of teamwork to work together to achieve a common goal?" She surprised herself by adding.
A brief look of scorn passed across Ryu's face before he held out his hand to her. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Kenneth could have blocked that shot without your help you know."
Kisa turned away from him. "I believe that if you hadn't thrown the weapon at all none of this would be happening - "
"Are you trying to say that I should have let this idiot try and hit me again?" Ryu asked pleasantly. "My offer on the opening - "
"I'll pass," Kisa said sharply. She turned away from him and focused on the front of the room where, she noticed, both Briar and Frost, were watching her.
She forced the tears that were gathering in her eyes to stay there and not fall down her cheeks. The tears were forming because of pain. Her left hand had been ripped up the throwing star even with the protection that her gloves had offered her. It hurt, but not as much as being turned away from Kenneth for helping him. She was alone at Shinobi Academy even more then she was at home.
Back at her old school she had Haru, Hiro, and Tohru to rely on for moral support when things started to go wrong. Even the other members of the Jyuunishi and her mother were comforting to be around.
Back at her old school, she didn't have to hide everything about herself. She didn't have to try and be this different. Everyone knew that she was strange and all she had to hide was the curse and how much their words really effected her.
But at Shinobi Academy. . . . . . . . she couldn't even let anyone know her real name without being killed. And it felt like everyone wanted to kill her or at least hurt her in some way.
The ceremonies started, and she followed without help from anyone. Ryu had offered to help, but after she rejected him, he headed to a different section of the room. As for Kenneth, he stood beside her, silently fuming with fury at her assistance during his fight with Ryu.
It wasn't that hard to follow the ceremony. There was a quick series of hand motions, but they had covered that in the hall on the way to the Main Hall. Then they had to speak a series of words that she didn't understand, but Kenneth had mentioned them in the hall as well. In spite of being a second behind on everything, she managed to get through the ten minute opening ceremony without much difficulty.
What came next was a little bit harder. Kenneth and her were called to the front of the room - which had to have over a hundred ninjas gathered.
"As many of you know, Commander Frost, leader of Cell One recently had a causality in his ranks," Briar began without preamble when they reached the front of the room.
"Due to the unexpected death of Sou, the inability to reform the cell without breaking another cell, and the necessity of filling the position before the new term officially started, Ki Souma, one of our newest recruits, will be acting at Frost's finale cell member," Briar continued.
"Thus, we have an Initialization to cover before classes begin." He finished his small speech with those words.
He held a long dagger out to Frost and another to Kenneth. They both cut their left palms along a thin line that looked like a scar. Blood welled up immediately where they had cut and they held their hands over a black goblet.
After a moment, they both handed the daggers they had used to her. She took them in her right hand hesitantly. She wasn't sure what she had to do.
Briar stepped up behind her and whispered. "Cut into your left hand two parallel slashes. Be careful, the daggers are sharp."
Kisa wanted to look back at him and scream that she wouldn't willingly cut herself, but since that might have gotten her killed, she restrained herself and pressed the first blade into her already bleeding left hand.
She hissed as the blade cut deeper then she had meant it to. It was sharper then she thought it would be. Keeping her mouth clenched tight, she raised the other dagger and drew it across just below where she hoped the first cut was; it was hard to tell with all the blood coating her hand now.
"Now hold your hand over the goblet," Briar said softly. "Don't put the daggers down at all."
For several moments she held her bleeding hand over the goblet. Then Briar spoke again. "Good, now I want you to cut another slash onto Frost and Kenneth's left hands, just below the other cut."
Frost was first. He held his hand out to her, his icy blue eyes locked on hers. She drew the blade across his palm, wincing as she cut deeper the previous cut was. He didn't show any sign of caring about the cut.
She moved her attention over to Kenneth. He held out his hand, his eyes dark and angry as she drew the second dagger across his palm, leaving a deep gash.
By now Kisa was starting to feel slightly light headed. She was still bleeding and had a feeling that she might be going into shock due to the deepness of the cuts she had inflicted on herself.
"Throw the daggers to the floor and press your left hand to Frost's and hold it there for one minute. Then do the same to Kenneth," Briar quietly ordered.
She pressed her hand to Frost's hand, noting that his blood felt frigid against hers. Somehow his blood felt right in spite of being cold. It suited him, although she couldn't explain why.
She counted to what she hoped what sixty in her mind and then moved her hand to Kenneth's. He winced as she pressed her hand to his. A look of intense dislike passing through his eyes for a brief moment before being replaced by reluctant awe.
The awe really surprised her. She made a quick note to find out why it shocked him so much. Then they moved their hands apart and the Initialization was over.
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Author's notes;
I have nothing to say except, please review me!
Oh, and thanks for reading this far. \_/
Kissa-chan
