While Raven and I were running back to get to the 5th period detention room, I noticed something in the shadows, following us. I kept running, but after we rounded the next corner, I stopped, pulled my katanas out and gripped them. I froze, in the shadows, and waited for the mysterious follower to round the corner. The person had slowed down, I thought to myself, but I stayed hidden. Suddenly, a tallish person lurched around the corner with a shuriken in their fingers. They ran straight past me and I followed stealthily in the shadows. The person caught up with Raven, and I took my chance. I crept up to the person, who I thought was a girl, because their hair was long and pulled back. I stood behind them. I heard Raven say
"Behind you" and then suddenly, the follower spun and aimed a karate chop at my head. I ducked, and switched sides of my katana's so that I was fighting with the blunt edge, and I stood straight again. I thrust my blade at the person, but they ducked. I swung my wrist down and hit the person hard in the back with the blunt edge of the sword. I heard an "oof!" as the wind was knocked out of them, and they collapsed, panting on the floor, unmoving. I looked up at Raven, but she was gone. I checked my watch. 5th period, dammit. I rolled the person onto their back, and examined their face. Not bad I thought. I had just knocked Wing Fanchu out. I pulled him up, and supported him on my shoulders, and literally dragged him to the room that the detention was being held in.
I walked in, and Raven looked up, but didn't say anything. At that point, Wing was waking up, so I helped him over to a chair in the room and then I walked back into the shadows behind Raven to wait for any instructions. Raven walked over to Wing and prodded him with her foot.
"Uuuuhhhh" He groaned and got up slowly.
"Get to class Wing. I'll see you at 4:00 for training." She instructed. I frowned as I realised she was teaching another person too.
"Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy." She spoke to me as I hid in the shadows. I went rigid. "A clean fight is what I want. Wing could have won that fight if not for him hesitating." With that said she walked out of the room
"Practice at 4:00 with Wing. A minute late and it's conditioning for both of you." I nodded, and walked out of the room. I frowned to myself. I wondered the corridors of HIVE until I knew the bell would be going to end 5th period and start 6th period. I jogged quickly back to my quarters and sat down on the edge of my bed. I pulled my boots off and lay down. I set my black box to wake me up at 3:30, and I fell asleep.
When I was asleep, I didn't dream. I never did. So, when I woke again, I was refreshed and ready for training. I went to the bathroom and washed my face with cold water. I stretched and got my boots. I put them back on, and with a slow pace, I set off for training. I was expecting another surprise attack, so I crept a fair distance when I was close to the training room. Fortunately, because I was early, no one was there. But then again, Raven was good, even better then Wing and me put together. I walked into the room, watching for any sign of movement in the shadows, or anything that had been disturbed while hiding. There was nothing, so I went back to the center of the room and waited. I heard a footstep slightly to my right, but I didn't make any sign that I had heard it; I just stood as still as i could and waited for the person to come to me. So as i waited in the middle of the room, waiting for the stranger to make another noise that would alert me to where they were, I sensed a movement behind me, and a slight sound of metal sliding to one side of me. I opened my eyes, and spun to the sound behind me, drawing my katanas simultaneously. They were still blunt, I had no reason to believe that the people in the room wanted to seriously injure me, probably only harm me, even then, only slightly. So I spun one katana in each hand, and each towards the direction of either noise. I ducked under a shuriken and swung on my hand, aiming for the nearest assailants' feet. I knocked the feet from under them, not surprised to see Wing, once again grounded by my attack. I stood up, and turned towards a disturbance in my peripheral vision. I saw a face that disappeared back into the shadows before I could be sure I had seen it.
"Raven" I muttered to myself. I should have known. Suddenly, I felt a slight pressure on my back, and Raven spoke in an extremely evil voice,
"Drop the swords, and put your hands on your head." I dropped the swords and stuck my hands onto of my head, but, the moment I did, I saw Wing scramble up onto his feet and make a lunge for the nearest katana. He grabbed it and stood halfway up, but before he got the chance to fully stand up, Raven swung one of her katanas down and knocked Wing down, for the third time in one day. I was shoved to the ground next to Wing, and as I tried to pull my head up, I was awarded for my efforts a sharp blow to my head. I collapsed again, breathing heavily and waited for Raven to offer any advice. A moment later though, the pressure on my back was gone, and i heard a nearly silent pair of footsteps running out of the room and into the hallway. Wing stood up, intending to follow her, but before he did, he offered me a hand and pulled me up. I scooped up my katanas, re-sheathed them and ran after Wing and Raven. We rounded the corner and caught up to Raven. I caught up to Raven first and Wing went around behind her. We had her cornered. I aimed a kick at Raven, but she knew where it was aimed. She grabbed my foot and threw me across the room, using my momentum against me. I stood up immediately, but Raven was quicker and she aimed a kick at my chest. I couldn't get out of the way, so her foot landed right in the middle of my chest. I staggered back and fell on the floor, my head slamming hard into the solid rock wall.
"No pain, no gain." She commented as leant forward to my knees, and then back up onto my feet. She turned to Wing and aimed a kick to his stomach, and he collapsed on both knees, gasping. Raven pulled her katana's out from her sheaths and smiled evilly. Wing held back due to the fact that he had no swords and was taken out by Raven's kick. I went over to her and fought, we were now just graceful blurs as we fought, assassin v assassin. I spotted an opening and I was about to swing my katana down and hit her, but I didn't see Raven swing her leg at the back of my knees. I lost my balance and fell on my back, gasping.
"Balance is what you need to work on. Your skills are perfect, but you need to do more practice." She turned to Wing. "Mr. Fanchu. Too many times have you failed. Extra practice with me." She pulled him to his feet. I nodded, and staggered out of the room, breathing heavily, and clutching my chest. I rounded the corner only to be seen by a few of the Alpha stream students, probably looking for Wing. I moaned, but ducked back into the training room, only then discovering that I was trapped. There was only one way out of the room, and that was where the Alpha students were. I was sorely tempted to let them see me, but i remembered Ravens instructions to me when I was taken in as her student.
"You are not to be seen by anyone unless I tell you. You must stay hidden for both your safety, and for other reasons I'm unable to disclose at the moment." I stepped back into the shadows of the room near the door, and pulled my leather cloak on. I waited until the students had stepped past me, and then I stealthily walked through the door and into the hallway. This time, however, it was deserted. I had little energy left from my beating from Raven, so by the time I got to my shared quarters with Raven, her extra training with Wing was over, and I was still sore, battered and panting. I leant against the doorframe, and then mustered up the last few bits of energy i had left in me to stagger the last few steps to my bed. I just made it, then collapsed, panting on my bed. I didn't move even when Raven asked me if I was alright. I finally said something about 5 minutes later, when I could breathe,
"I'm fine now...I guess." Raven nodded.
"That's another lesson for you then. You need to learn your limits and work with them." I nodded, then moaned, and collapsed on my bed again. I collapsed on my bed, and only half heard what Raven was saying. I nearly tried to will myself to get up and clean the dried blood I found off my head, just a minor flesh wound, but by the time I had finished arguing with myself in my head, I was fresh out of energy and will power. I moaned again, and used my feet to get my boots of. I kicked them off the bed, and groaned. I didn't even have the energy to pull my covers over me. I ignored them, and pulled my coat off, dumping it on the floor near my head. I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep. Once again, I didn't dream, but for once, when I woke up, I didn't really have much energy, though I was slightly less sore. I rolled over and looked at Raven's bed, but she was gone. It didn't surprise me; she was often gone in the morning for either training or for reasons she wouldn't say. I sat up surprised that I had my sheets covering me, because I didn't remember pulling over me before i went to sleep. My boots and coat were also put where I was supposed to leave them when i wasn't wearing them. I flipped open my blackbox and was greeted by H.I.V..
"You have one message from Raven. Would you like me to open it for you?" I nodded.
"Yes thanks H.I.V." i looked up and rubbed my eyes, clearing the sleep from them, and when i looked back down, Raven's face was on my screen.
"Lena, when you wake up, I want you to meet me in Training Room 7, preferably before lessons start." The message cut off there. I looked at the time in the top corner of my blackbox.
"Dammit" I muttered to myself. Lessons were literally 5 minutes away from starting. I yanked my boots on my feet, pulled my katana's onto my back and my coat over my shoulders. I picked up my black box, shoved it in my belt and sprinted. I was a couple of steps away from the training room when I saw another figure walk out. I flattened myself against the wall, hoping that I wouldn't get seen, but when I saw Wing, I relaxed, just a little. Wing saw me move slightly, and frowned, so when I detached myself from the shadows, it was no surprise that he took up a defensive stance. I held my hands up in a sign of peace, and smiled at him.
"Feeling alright from yesterday?" he just nodded and walked off. I immediately forgot about it when I heard Raven call me.
"Lena, do you feel like coming in anytime soon?" What a surprise. Raven knew I was at the door. I walked into the room, forgetting for a moment that I was probably going to be attacked again. Fortunately, after ducking under a kick aimed at my face, there were no more attacks.
"I trust you had a good sleep then?" I chuckled briefly.
"Yeah, best sleep of my life." Raven said nothing, but nodded her head to the side.
"You're excused form morning training. Go back to your quarters, clean yourself up, check that cut on your head, and then come back to me after 1:00." I nodded and walked out of the room. I went back to my quarters and into the bathroom. I cleaned the side of head where I had a long curved cut. I looked at the side of my head in the mirror. There was dried blood spattered around my eye, and a long, thin cut that curved down the side of my head from just above my eyebrow to a few centimeters above my jaw. I cursed under my breath, and went to the cupboard on the opposite side of the room to get something to clean the blood off and prevent infection in the cut. When I was done, I cleaned up all the rubbish and dumped it in the bin and then walked back into the sleeping area. I took off my boots and placed them in the shoe rack near the door and pulled my coat off. I walked to the door, and hung it on the hook. I turned around and saw a figure sitting on Raven's bed.
"Gah!" I looked closer at the figure. "Yeesh, Raven, you've got to stop doing that to me." She smiled, and then waved me over.
"Let me look at that cut." I walked towards her. She held my chin in one hand while carefully running her fingers along it with her other hand.
"Congratulations," she said with a hint of humor in her voice. "Your first scar." I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. She released my chin, and then continued talking.
"I expect you to be ready for another training session this afternoon, and this time, don't bring your katana's." I nodded. "Now, you better get some rest, and be ready for training at 1:00. I have something I need to do, I trust you'll be OK until 1:00" I nodded.
"Yup. I'll be fine." With that I stepped over to my bed, and sat on it. I swung my legs around, and pulled the sheets over my lower body. I set my blackbox to wake me up at 12:30, and with that, I closed my eyes and relaxed.