Chapter 10    

Lesson 5: Look before you leap.

About a week had passed since the 'incident' between Youko and Tou-Kou. Both had forgotten about it and became their friendly selves again. One day, Koronue and Youko teamed up and promised to teach the ningen about reiki.

"You have trained long and hard to even get to this point; what can I say? You've made us proud, ningen girl. I think you are ready to start controlling your own reiki." Koronue paced back and forth in front of her. She gave him a questioning look, "Reiki?" she said. Her voice was high but strong, and her accent was strange to them.

O.o O.o

"She talked!" the bat jumped up and down, the fox did a happy dance, "She spoke! Finally! Why don't you ever speak?"

"I'm shy, and I don't think what I have to say is relevant."

"You lack confidence." Koronue said and let the silence ring.

"What's reiki?"  

"Energy created by your spirit. It can be used as a weapon. We have complete control over ours and we each use it in different ways; my forte is manipulating plants." He pulled out his rose and made the rose whip. Koronue took out his red pendant, "I use hypnotism and illusions."

"Hypnotism doesn't work." she scoffed. He frowned, "Want to bet on that?" swinging the pendant, she followed it with her eyes. After a few seconds, she started to drool and fell over.  8D

He laughed; she sat up and wiped her chin off. "Today you will learn how to conjure your reiki, then later learn what your expertise will be."

"How long could that take?"

"Years at most." O.o "lets' get started."

Tou-Kou sat in a meditating position with her eyes closed; she was all-alone, right in the thick of the forest. 'I'm supposed to find my center, without thinking about anything at all, like a stone. How can I think and not think…this is nice, it's like dreaming, except I can pick what I dream about. This is kind of fun.' 

Thwack!

"Ouch!" a rock had collided with her head. She rubbed her temple gingerly. 'Oops. I guess I shouldn't be dreaming, or thinking…' she stayed very still and continued to find her center. She could almost feel the presence of the forest, the rocks and the trees and the grass. With her eyes closed, she could hear and smell ten times better. A little stinkbug was eating a piece of grass a few feet away from her. A bird was preening its feathers in a tree behind her. A strange presence was also behind her. She wondered what it was, and then remembered she was not permitted to think.

A stone flew toward her head; she leaned her head back and easily dodged it. The strange presence was moving closer; she felt a bead of sweat slip down her forehead. Her heart beat faster, her muscles tightened. The presence was dangerously close; her hands were clasped so tight her knuckles turned white. The bead of sweat dropped from her forehead; before it hit the ground, she jumped and turned to face the presence.

Nothing was there.

She released her muscles and looked confused. She turned back around, with her gaze over her shoulder; when she turned back forward, she was plowed into the grass by a white blur. She gave a shriek; her hands twitched and glowed. She shoved back at the assailant and drove him into a tree. Youko fell down and groaned. Koronue stepped out form behind a tree. "Manifestation of reiki into a weapon, very nice." Tou-Kou stood up and looked at her hands, the glow surrounding them was quickly fading. She frowned.

"Not bad; your reaction to fear triggered a response." The fox stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Try to make that energy again, focus on what it felt like and try to make it comeback." Koronue instructed. Nodding, she stared at her hands and concentrated. Tou-Kou could almost make out her own energy again, but it vanished as soon as it came. "I can't." she said.

"You're trying too hard; give it a while."

"I'm tired!"

"Your reiki isn't used to being used. Sit down a while, it might regenerate if its strong enough."

"Will I be pounced again?"

"Maybe, maybe not, we might try something else." He laughed evilly. Shivering a bit, Tou-Kou took the meditating position and reluctantly closed her eyes. Awhile later, she began to doze lightly and let her head lean forward. She could not feel the presence any more.

A caterpillar crawled up her leg, she brushed it off, and a rock hit her in the head again. Growling, she became still again. She became aware of every thing around her again, a bug in the grass, a squirrel chewing a nut, a bird flying overhead. The presence suddenly was near her face; she opened her eyes and saw nothing again. Closing her eyes again, she still felt the presence. She tried not to shake or show any fear, but concentrating earned her another rock in the head. She knit her brows; a lump was forming on her head. The presence came nearer to her, it was real this time; she jumped and let her foot fly across someone's cheek. A low 'oof' was heard and a thud. She opened her eyes; Koronue lay on the ground. He stood up rubbing his cheek. "Your senses are too sharp when you have your eyes closed." He said. Pulling a long piece of cloth from his pocket and some strange pink stuff with it. "Put this scarf over your eyes, and then put this pink stuff in your ears. Your spirit awareness will get sharper if you can't use your other senses." He instructed. She obeyed and sat down again.

Tou-Kou could not hear anything, or see through the scarf. She felt exposed, but tried not to try to do anything or else another rock would grace her skull. She felt another presence near her, but it was different, scarier. Another popped up to her left, another behind her; they multiplied at an insane rate. The presences seemed to grow in strength by feeding off her fear. She could really feel one now, touching her neck; it was rough and stiff like bark. Quivering, she stayed still as she could. The presence withdrew; she relaxed a little. Her spirit awareness began to work properly; she could almost see things in her mind. Many waving things were around her; they seemed familiar. It struck her, the energy thieving thorns that had trapped her when she first came to reikai. They would suck away her energy if they touched her. She had to escape; she could already feel them trying to block off all escape routes.

Suddenly, a barbed tendril coiled around her ankle and jerked hard. She gave a scream and her reiki shot up like a rocket. The branch exploded trying to suck up all her energy, but what it was able to handle made the whole bush want more. She stood and walked backwards from the smoldering branch. She stumbled backwards; pulling off the blindfold and ear plugs, and landed in a spiked embrace. The bush was draining her as she screamed. Thinking quickly, she tried to make her reiki work, but that only made it go away. The bush, thinking it had gotten all the reiki it could, released her. She lay very still for several minutes, using her spirit awareness to watch the plant. When the bush had all but become still, she rolled over and made a break for it. Her plan proved in vain, the bush seized her around the waist and greedily sucked her precious reiki away. Her power was gone in seconds because she did not have much of it. She tried to sit up, but the thorns held her down; she tried again futile, then the branch seemed to disappear. She crawled forward with out trouble, but what ever was trying to touch her just went through her, taking little bits of energy with it. When she reached a place where the long branches could not reach, she collapsed and fainted.