For lack of a better description, Yagami pampered himself. Leona had followed him back to his hotel room and promptly sat down in a chair when he all but ordered her to. When he crossed the room to raid his mini fridge, Leona found herself staring at the well furnished room. Honestly, she didn't think she'd be able to pay for a room like Yagami's if she saved up nearly five years worth of pay checks. The room was so fancy that Leona was actually beginning to feel uncomfortable. Until Iori shoved a can of soda into her hands.
"You don't look like the type to drink men's beverages," he smirked, sitting down on the corner of his bed.
"Thank you," she murmured, staring down at the blue can. As far as things went, Leona didn't know what to do next. She had completed her mission, that much was true, but what came next? She assumed Yagami would fill her in. Raising her head to ask him as much, she paused, finding him staring at her. "What?" she questioned him.
"Why do -you- have flames?" he countered her question with one of his own.
"I don't know. It's one of the many reasons I tracked you down," she murmured, her head once more lowering to let her eyes stare at the unopened can in her hands. "I assumed you would have an answer for me."
He snorted: "Nope."
She could still feel his eyes on her. "Why do you keep staring at me?" she raised her head again to meet his gaze. Leona was not afraid of this man, but the fact of the matter was that she didn't like -anyone- staring at her. It was rude, and it made her feel uncomfortable.
"You are a puzzle, woman. You have flames of Orochi when only the Kusanagi and Yagami should."
Raising her head just slightly, her chin jutting out, she spoke: "I have a name, and it is not 'woman'." Leona was used to being addressed as "Leona", "Heidern", "soldier" or other military titles, but never "woman". In fact, she didn't find the title degrading when it was certainly meant to be as such - she was just used to being addressed in proper military fashion.
Iori snorted into the glass he was drinking from. "Very well, -Heidern-," he smirked, emphasizing the name. "What exactly is it that you want from me?"
Had she not already explained that to him? Perhaps due to her general lack of speaking with people and general inability to properly express herself, she had not... explained herself properly. For a few moments, Leona stared down at the blue can of soda, finally pulling on the tab to open it as she gathered her thoughts. There was... so much for her to explain, and for a moment, she wondered if it was possible for her to do as much - to explain everything that had happened to her for the past month, to explain her problems. But, her soldier's mind kicked in, and she began to explain things as though she were reporting to one of her superior officers:
"For the past twenty one days, I have been having these strange... nightmares. Blood and gore filled visions, of people screaming and dying, of my hands covered in blood, standing among hundreds of dead people. I don't know how I know, but I am certain I am reliving things that have happened to me in the past, things that I do not even recall doing. Generally, I wake up in a sweat and nothing more, but sometimes the visions change. The dead bodies suddenly ignite into blue flames, and -then- I wake up and my hands are encased in the same blue flames." Leona finally lifted her head to look Iori in the eye. "I am sure you know that I do not have even the slightest bit of control over this... curse that we share, because if I did, I would not be having these nightmares, and I would be able to control the flames. I do not wish to relive the 1997 Tournament." Although it was almost completely unnoticeable, Leona was certain she had seen Iori shudder at her mention of the tournament, and she was positive he was remembering what he had done while under the Riot.
Iori merely grinned: "I didn't realize the military princess had such a large vocabulary. What was that, nearly seven full sentences? That must be a record for you."
Leona scowled, abruptly standing up, her mouth opening to reply to his rude words, but he shook his head and waved his hand.
"Stop getting so upset, Heidern. No wonder people call you the Ice Queen - no sense of humor."
"I do not see what is so funny about my problems," she muttered, sitting back down, refusing to look away from him.
Sighing, he finished off the brown liquid he was drinking before leaning back and dropping the glass on the night table behind him. Iori sat back up and continued to stare at Leona, apparently trying to figure out what he wanted to say, or to gather his own thoughts. "So you want to learn to control your powers, thus your blood, that it?"
Is that not what she had been saying since she saw him in the bar? "Yes."
"That's all you had to say, Heidern," he replied, getting up and walking past her, right into the bathroom. He closed the door behind himself.
Brow furrowing in confusion, Leona stared at the closed door, slightly puzzled by it. The sound of running water met her ears which only further confused her. Was he... taking a shower? Yagami had always seemed like a strange individual to her, but the entire evening was downright peculiar. So, he expected her to sit around while he took a shower? With a sigh, Leona finally took a drink of the now warming soda in her hands before settling back into her chair, straightening her back and looking in front of her. She was a soldier. She would wait.
That Yagami pampered himself was shown not just through the state of his hotel room, but of the length of time he spent in the shower. Perhaps the man had not even spent the entire time in the shower, but whether or not that was the case, the truth was that the water had been running for at -least- fourty five minutes before it had finally been turned off. The abrupt change in sound was what caused Leona to shift in her seat and glance at the clock on the cable box above the TV. It was nearing one in the morning. By then, the soda, still held between hands, was room temperature, and as she wasn't even thirsty, she finally placed the can down on the table beside her before shifting a second time and realigning her back.
Leona had spent the time thinking, something a quiet individual such as herself did a lot of. Yagami would help her. How would he do that? Would it even be possible for him -to- help her, what with his own powers gone? Even if she tried, would -she- be able to do what was necessary to help herself? She certainly knew she would, if it were -possible-. The problem was, she had no idea what was going to happen, or even if her mind and body were capable of doing whatever was needed to gain control of her powers. Lowering her eyes, Leona lifted her hands up and stared at them, at the scarred skin of her palms, the slightly darkened, burnt colors.
Becoming as lost in thought as she had, she never noticed Iori leaving the bathroom, never noticed him standing in front of her, rubbing a white towel against his wet hair. She finally took notice of him after he tossed the towel onto the bed, grabbed her wrist and hauled her right out of her chair. Brows furrowed, lips parted in surprise, she stared at him, wanting to scold him for treating her so rudely, but she kept her words to herself, as she almost always did. The surprise and annoyance she felt soon faded as she watched him stare at her hand, twisting and turning it to get a look at it in the light before grabbing her other hand and doing the exact same thing.
With a snort, he dropped her hand before moving towards his mini fridge to search for another drink. "The stains never do fade," he commented, once more sitting down on the corner of his bed, glass in hand.
Immediately, Leona's eyes moved to look at his hands, and for the first time, she noticed that the tips of his fingers were darker than the rest of his hands - stained from the blood, exactly like hers. With a nod, she sat back down, her hands folding in her lap. "And what of the scars, from the flames?"
"Nope," he shook his head before taking a long swig.
For a few moments, Leona just stared at the floor, well aware Yagami was still staring at her. Wasn't he supposed to be helping her? Shouldn't he be saying something, explaining things? Lifting her head to look up at him once more, she finally asked her questions: "What am I supposed to do?"
"No clue," he replied nonchalantly, quickly finishing off the drink before placing the empty glass on the night table beside the first one.
No... clue? "Then why did you bring me here?"
With a shrug, he moved back onto the bed until his back was leaning against the wall, his hands folding behind his head, legs straight ahead of him, crossed at the ankles.
Leona was confused. Was all of this a waste of time? Was he just playing with her? Eyes narrowing as she controled her annoyance, Leona stood back up. "I thought you said you would help me."
"I said -maybe-, woman. Did it ever occur to you that I might not have any idea -how- to help you?"
"Then, again, what was the point of bringing me here? Just so you could sit there and stare at me like I am some freak of nature? I came to you asking for help, and you have been nothing but rude and obnoxious."
A grin spread out over his lips. "Dunno'. But it seems to be doing you some good. You've been stringing together full sentences all night rather than just two word replies."
It was like something inside of her snapped. With a growl, Leona slammed her fist into the table beside her. "I did not come here to be mocked!" Immediately, her fist ignited in blue flames, and before she knew what was happening, Iori was in front of her, grabbing her wirst and yanking her hand towards him, eyes staring at the flames. Taken aback, Leona stared at him, her face softening, the flames extinguishing.
With a snarl, Iori looked down at her. "Damnit, woman, can't you stay angry for more than two seconds?"
Leona blinked.
Rolling his eyes, he dropped her hand and shook his head, moving away to once more sit on the corner of his bed. "If you've yet to notice, the flames are connected to your emotions. Fear while you're asleep, anger while you're awake."
She.. hadn't noticed that. Slowly, Leona sat back down and once more stared at her hands, her right slightly warmer than her left. She was beginning to piece things together.
"Control your emotions, you control the flames," Iori spoke up, leaning back on a palm and staring at her.
"And the Riot?" She didn't look up at him.
He shrugged. "Same thing, basically. At least for you. Control your emotions, control the flames, control the Riot."
Leona finally looked up. "What do you mean 'at least for you'?"
"I told you before. -You- shouldn't have those flames - they belong to the Kusanagi and the Yagami. You don't belong to either clan. At least, I don't think you do, but then again, if you don't know your own family..." he trailed off with another shrug. "You're probably just a descendant of one of the Eight Representatives of Orochi, each of which have their own type of powers. I can only assume your's is that blue flame."
"But why -now-? Why do these powers suddenly come to me -now-? It's been over a decade since the first time I Rioted, wouldn't the flames have come to me -then-?"
"What do I look like, some smart book-type scholar? I don't know."
Leona frowned. "So... what, I just... try to get myself angry, to force the flames, and then try to control them...?"
"The grunt catches on." Her eyes narrowed, he laughed. "You're quicker to anger than I thought. Perhaps the Ice Queen doesn't have such a cold heart after all."
"Perhaps. But at least -one- of us has flames hot enough to melt the ice," she countered, quickly catching on to his little game and realizing that she could play too.
All smugness left his face, and his eyes darkened as he stared at her, his upper lip curling back to show off a K9. "Listen, woman. I was nice enough to help you out, no reason for you to get all prissy and act like a little bitch."
Leona realized that all he had at the moment were words; without his flames, all he had left was brute strength, and in a way, against Leona, powerless, for she had strength as well. For a brief moment, she felt a bubble of pride begin to grow within her chest, but she pushed it down, refusing to give herself airs. She would not become an egotistical asshole like Yagami. "Nice? You have been nothing but rude since I first approached you. Perhaps you cannot stand that which you so easily hand out to other people."
He continued to glare at her, and Leona knew, without a doubt, that if he had his powers, he would have attacked her then and there, despite his so called hate of violence. It must have killed him, having to force restraint upon himself.
"Ya'know, I think I prefer the Ice Queen who can't string two sentences together rather than whatever the hell you are now," he growled.
As she continued to stare at him, it dawned on her that she had spoken more in that one night than she had in her entire life. Most of what she said -had- to be said because there was no other way she could explain herself to Yagami, but after that... Almost everything else she had spoken did not need to be said, but she had opened her mouth anyway. Part of her couldn't understand it, but another part of her realized that the moment she saw his stained finger tips, she felt like Yagami was the only person she could talk to about her problems freely. He had, after all, gone through the exact same thing. Ralf and Clark would never understand, but Yagami could because it was the same for him.
Turning her head away from him, she looked towards the curtained window, letting her emotions cool before she spoke up: "It's the same for you, is it not? You very rarely speak to people, and yet here you are, talking to me like a normal person. You see in me exactly what you used to be, but like me, you never had anyone to talk to who could understand the pain, the horror, the fear... No one who shared the scars." Rolling her hand over, Leona looked down at the scars and discolorations once more. "It pains me to say it, but I'm sure you realize it too - we are a lot alike."
For the first time that night, the roles were switched; Iori remained silent, snorting in annoyance every so often, while Leona spoke her mind.
With a nod, Leona got up from her seat. Nothing else would need explaining that night. "Thank you," she nodded again, looking down at him. When no reply came, she turned to finally leave his room and return to the barracks, but paused when he spoke up.
"Come back here tomorrow night. I wanna' see those flames again," he muttered, refusing to look up from the floor.
Leona realized that he was only causing himself more pain; he wanted to see the powers that he no longer had. But he had helped her, so perhaps this was his payment. After saluting him, she turned and finally left. She would return because, to her, it had been an order.