Hello, people of the world of FanFiction! A short chapter, because I don't feel like writing any more and the next part is going to be rather long...
A bead of perspiration fell into her eyes, causing it to sting and for both eyes to blink rapidly. Her already slick hands slipped off of the stone window ledge she had been just about to grab ahold of, but missed because of the brief lapse of concentration, and she fell the distance she had just painstakingly climbed. Kyoko hit the ground with a loud thud, her knees absorbing all the shock from landing. She did not fall over, though, and sat down upon the cool stone of the street, examining her bleeding, blistered hands in the red light from the sunset. Soft living had done nothing to help the shape of her hands. Or her general physical shape, she thought as she became increasingly aware of the burns and aches in her entire body, specifically her arms.
She was so engrossed in her body, or perhaps just too exhausted, she did not notice the canteen of water being held out to her.
"Are you going to drink?" Kanae's irritated voice reached down into her veil of obliviousness and snapped her back to the current time.
Kyoko, suddenly realizing her dry throat, grabbed the water jug and drank until she needed to breathe. The liquid, though warm, slid down her throat, tasting as good as honey. When she had finished half of the large container, she looked up at Kanae, a sparkly aura around her and flowers blooming out of thin air.
"MOKO-SAN!" She tried to glomp her friend, and succeeded. Kotonami, startled that she could actually have the energy after all the climbing she had done, recovered quickly and threw her with her hip.
Kyoko, on the ground in pain with a new bruise on top of a new one from falling, managed to gasp out, "...You...were...so...thoughtful...just like...a best friend would...be..." She looked up at her with tormented eyes.
"Mo, what kind of nickname is that? Just because you figured it out, doesn't mean you can use it! Now, here, put on these leather gloves and get back to climbing!" She dropped said gloves in Kyoko's face, highly irritated that she not only knew her name, but also her nickname.
This was the fourteenth day of Kyoko's training, and it had never ceased to be extremely difficult for her. Sword training, which was the easiest, still had some tricks for Kyoko to learn. There was using poisons, shooting a bow, tricks on horses, (which included several episodes neither Kyoko nor Kanae wanted to repeat) and basically anything that included stealth, killing techniques, good reflexes... You name physical activity, Kyoko was doing it.
Climbing, though, was a different story altogether. It would have been the easiest, but when your face is on posters everywhere with an eye-widening amount of liras underneath, you generally do not want to take the traditional streets. In light of this, the Eagles almost always travelled by rooftop. And thus, Kyoko was forced to practice the same, seeing as she, too, was sought after. And so she was forced to climb to get everywhere.
Despite everything, training was not that bad. Kyoko's progress was something close to phenomenal, seeing as she was cutting the time in more than half. She caught on quickly, learned from her mistakes, and gave everything her very best.
Kanae was impressed.
Not that she would admit it, but with each passing day the irritability of Kyoko's actions towards her became more endearing with her respect growing towards the odd young woman. She began not to mind as much with her rants on being best friends.
Not that she would ever admit it, though.
And with Kyoko's astounding progress through what took Kotonami two months to get over with, the time was coming.
The first. The very first.
Voretti had been watching the training, she had known, from behind a darkened window, or far away. He was always like that. Hidden in the shadows, no one knew exactly how much he knew.
He left a note in her quiver, where she was bound to find it. The contents had been short, but it was enough to surprise Kanae. To think he had made it so soon. He never made quick decisions, always gathered information and almost over thought it before finalizing anything. Especially something as vital as this.
The content had said,
"The time is coming soon."
So this is late and short for some good reasons. 1. I had testing that I had to study far too much for. And 2. I'm thinking on a new story idea. Maybe. What do you think?
She knew too much, but her IQ was simply too high, perfect for what they wanted, too rare to be simply "missed". And so Kyoko Mogami was forgotten, replaced by test subject FSB791.
Should I start it?
How am I doing on this story? Impressions? Suggestions? Leave a review, please!