A Lesson in Protection

[Silence Sei]

Anita smiled as Skyler suggested that they play hide and seek. She quickly became less excited at the prospect of comparing weapons, but shrugged her shoulders. "That's fine," Anita said, "I'll go first."

Anita quickly dropped her brown bookbag to the ground and unzipped it. The smell of fresh fruits began to illustrate the nostrils of all in the cave once the bag was fully open. Reaching in, Anita pulled out a small bottle with a cork in it and set it down, looking to Skyler. "This is my primary weapon, it's Purifying Holy Water. The bottle naturally purges undead and vampyric beings almost instantaneously. It also has the special property of never going empty, the bottle is always refilling itself."

After her explanation, Anita continued to pull out more of her weapons. Among the items in her backpack were stakes, arrows, sewing needles, a couple of apples, a single vial of posion, and a pinwheel. Anita stood triumphantly as she looked at her hoarded treasure. As she reflected on her tools of choice, Anita began to realize how similar her and Skyler were. Both girls tried to take out their targets in secret, Skyler with assassinations and Anita going as far as using posion apples.

Anita shook the thoughts of being the same as a distatsteful murderer out of her head and looked to Skyler, reaching out and attempting to tap her on her shoulder. "Go ahead, it's your turn to show me what you got." Anita was sure that she had the advantage as far as sheer weaponry went, but she would never be able to know, at least not for now.

Sei stepped back into the cave and looked to the two girls with a big smile. "Actually, Skyler," The mute said as he placed one of his battle fans over his face, "your first step will be a game of hide and seek as a matter of fact. You two will take a turn each hiding from one another. The sheer pressure will simulate the trials of the Light and Shadow magic all mystics go through to learn their Mystic Protection. Once you've got the pressure built, we will continue to the next step. We -shall- not continue until each of you have your turn and find the other."

Before either girl could protecst, Sei looked to Anita. "Skyler will hide first, and you will go find her, Anita. I don't want any lip from either of you on this subject." As Sei finished speaking, Anita scrambled to place all of the contents of her bag back in, zipped it up with a scrape along the way. The girl quickly closed her eyes and began her count.

"One... two... three... I'm counting to one hundred by the way, Skyler... four... five... six..."

[skyler manfield]

The sheer variety of the weapons Anita had was actually a bit impressive, and more than a little surprising to Skyler. As vehemently as the girl had bad-mouthed Skyler for being a murderer and one of the "bad guys", she obviously had no qualms about killing as long as she could rationalize it as being ethical somehow. Everyone had to lie to themselves about something she supposed.

As she reached down and pulled the small leather case from her bag, Sei returned, and so she stopped before she could open the case to reveal the selection of poisons within. Her other weapons were hidden in various places on her person, but she didn't have the chance to show them off.

Skyler didn't think it was very fair to play hide and seek with the girl. She'd have to be very observant, far beyond average, even if she was specifically looking for the assassin. Only one person had ever seen Skyler when she was using her ability, and that had nearly ended in tragedy. Skyler shuddered as she recalled the close call with the guard beneath the Cathedral in Knife's Edge.

"Have fun counting," the assassin said as she disappeared down the tunnel further into the mine shaft, calling back toward Anita as she did, "Might want to cheat a little if you ever intend to find me."

It only grew darker the further Skyler traveled into the mine, her eyes straining to use what little light followed her down the tunnel. She kept one hand in front of her, and the other on the wall to her right until she came to a split in the tunnel.

"Eeny meeny miny moe, which way should the killer go?" choosing the left branch, she continued on, but hurried a bit more since she figured she only had a few seconds left. It was only by luck that she found the slight indention in the wall of the tunnel, and she stepped into it, willing herself to become completely unremarkable. As long as Anita wasn't endowed with an above average talent for noticing things, Skyler would seem to fade into the dirt wall of the mine itself, even with a lantern to illuminate her. She wouldn't be invisible really, just completely unimportant and beneath notice.

With a smile, she leaned her head back against the wall, and took a deep breath.

[Silence Sei]

Sei smiled as Anita jumped with excitement upon reaching 100. Skyler was gone into the cave and it's many intersecting ways, and Anita had to locate her. The girl gripped her backpack strap and took off into the cave. Soon, Sei followed his daughter to make sure that the girl did actually find Skyler in the darkness of the cavern.

The two finally stopped at a split in the wall, and Anita did not hesitate to go left. They came upon an indention in the cavern walls. Thre girl paused to catch her breath for a few moments, her father standing and watching her intently. "How exactly does this help us prepare for learning Mystic Protection exactly, Papa?"

Sei smiled to his daughter, and spoke 'out loud' so anybody nearby would hear. "The trials are typically faced with a sense of anticipation. Most of our lives, we wait until we can take the tests to learn the magic that us mystics naturally have imbued in us. Seeing as you and Skyler are not of mystic blood, you have to build up a sense of anticipation, and waiting for someone to find you is the perfect way to get the two of you in character so to speak."

Anita nodded with a smile to her father, looking towards the indention. "That's what I thought," she said as she approached the indentuion and reached out, tapping Skyler's frame as she did so, "She's right there, by the way." Without another question, Anita began to explain.

"If I make contact with anybody, I have a lock on them for life," Anita said, "for some reason, I pass off a tinge of an undead aura with my contact, something I am adept at finding. Now if you will excuse me, it is my turn to hide!" Anita took off as fast as she could into the darkness of the cave.

In all reality, however, Anita had merely found a way to circle back and return to the area where Sei had originally spoken to the girls about the task at hand. "Let's see the assassin beat that time, as well as find me now!" Anita said boastfully as she began to wait for the sunrise.

[skyler manfield]

Great, Skyler thought to herself, Never be rid of the brat if she's got a lock on me for life. The girl had already run into the darkness and Skyler stood counting slowly to one hundred. As she did, she stilled her breathing as much as she could, focusing on the sounds of movement within the mine. There was water dripping somewhere in quick pattering beat. A rodent scuffled down the tunnel a little ways. It took the assassin a little while to hear what she was listening for, but about the time she reached the end of her countdown the sound of Anita's voice followed the sound of her footsteps.

So the girl thought she would trick Skyler. Guess I can't blame her. I tried to trick her too, I just didn't succeed. That frustrated Skyler more than she cared to admit, even to herself. The thought that someone could know where Skyler was in spite of her ability shook her to the core. She didn't have time to focus on how much it worried her, she needed to prove herself worthy of being taught before she could improve her own skills. The assassin only waited a moment longer as she figured out just where the sounds had come from, then took off at a jog, able to move faster now than she had while she was taking the time to hide. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and as she drew closer to where Anita was "hiding" she squinted against the light of their mentor's lantern.

"Ready or not here I come," she called out as she appeared in the archway to the open area they'd originally gathered in, "Gotta learn to be more quiet if you wanna hide from an assassin."

[Silence Sei]

Anita glared at the assassin for moment, and was about to open her mouth when the two heard Sei's clapping. The applause was slow, and not unlike something someone being a smart alek would do. "Excellent, you two," he said with a big smile on your face, "you both found one another relatively quick. Anita, I'm a bit disappointed in your methods, but your strategy for hiding more than made up for my qualms about your seeking. Skyler, both your hiding and your seeking were top notch. I can easily see why Hawk put you under his wing."

The mute looked outside of the cave and noticed the darkness that was overtaking them. Sei had been fortunate enough to choose a cave that had it's own, already lit torches hanging from the walls. It wasn't until now that Sei started to smell the rain almost upon them. Stepping out of the cave and looking upwards for a moment, the mute noticed a rolling thunderstorm heading their way. The mute smiled as he stepped back into the cave and looked at the girls.

"The next challenge is a bit more physical," Sei said, placing a single arm behind his back. "I shall engage the two of you in combat, and shall do so with one arm behin my back. If you girls can cause me to either admit defeat, or use my right hand, you win the challenge." Anita blinked for a moment, looking at Skyler and then back at Sei.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to have a professional assassin fight you Papa? I mean, I'm no slouch either, but she could very well 'accidentally' slit your throat." Sei shook his head at Anita's stab (no pun intended) at Skyler. The mute trusted in the fact that Hawk's girl wanted to learn what he had to teach, and would not do something so foolish as to kill him here and now. Furthermore, Sei had the utmost confidence that in a worse case scenario, Anita would be more than capable of saving the mute.

Sei had been lost in these thoughts for too long, however, and an apple flew straight into his face. As the fruit smashed against his nose, the mystic stumbled backwards a bit. "Go Skyler!" Anita shouted to her 'teammate', and hope that the assassin would take more than this ample opportunity to strike at her father. This was, after all, a challenge against the former vampire, and one could never let their guard down in a fight...

[skyler manfield]

"I promise if I slit anyone's throat it won't be by accident," Skyler purposefully ignored the sarcastic tone Anita used when she said 'accidentally', and smiled mischievously at the girl as she continued, "And I promise it won't be his throat that I slit."

It probably wasn't all that wise to bait the girl, but when Anita threw her apple directly into their mentor's face (and with a surprising amount of force behind it), and shouted to Skyler, the assassin realized it didn't matter. If Sei wanted to challenge them to a fight, then a fight he would have. Skyler only briefly concerned herself with the fact that fighting wasn't something she was good at, but perhaps she could take the silent one down long enough for Anita to gain his focus.

Pulling a long slender blade from its place at her thigh, Skyler leaped forward, keeping her body low to the ground and aiming to take Sei's feet out from under him. The stiletto was only for her own defense, and it was carefully laid against her forearm as she tucked and rolled just before she was about to slam into his legs.

Hopefully, if all went as planned, Sei would fall, or at least lose his balance enough to be distracted and Skyler could slip out of the cave long enough to take advantage of her ability. Should things not go as planned, Skyler hadn't thought of a backup plan. It wasn't like it would be very smart to poison the man. Hawk probably wouldn't like that idea at all.

[Silence Sei]

Sei began to recover his balance as Skyler made her move. The girl withdrew a blade and swiped at her teacher, causing Sei to jump back in order to miss the edge. This sudden jump, however, because Sei’s right foot to meet with the soft dirt outside, causing an uneven shift in balance and making the mute stumble. The mute looked towards Skyler to see how she would recover from her attack, but to his surprise, she was gone.

Sei looked to his daughter, who had now withdrawn her pinwheel. Even though they had just met, Anita had loose idea of what Skyler had been planning as soon as the girl made her way out of the cavern. Anita took a single finger and used it to spin her pinwheel. After the pinwheel began to spin, Sei’s daughter dashed at him and brought her pinwheel close to Sei’s chest. Sei nearly had to bend over backwards to avoid the blow, causing him to stumble outside further.

Sei could smell the rain now; feel the trickle of water upon his pale skin. These two senses were enough for Sei to not realize the slash across his gray gi where Anita had almost ended him. Anita’s pinwheel had razor blades behind each one of the deceptively pretty red and blue windmill blades. With something as simple as spinning the pinwheel, Anita essentially wielded the power of a buzz saw, so long as the spin lasted.

Anita dashed forward again, but Sei was ready this time, already reaching behind him. Just before Anita struck at her father’s chest once more, Sei brought around one of his steel battle fans and met her in a deadlock. The two weapons were only a few inches from Sei’s chest, but the telepath had stopped the spinning blades on Anita’s pinwheel. If his daughter wanted to play rough, then Sei Orlouge was going to pay her back in kind.

The hero brought a knee up, slamming it into his daughter’s crotch. The sheer force of the blow was enough for Sei to know his knee was going to bruise. This sent Anita to the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. While such a blow would be much more painful to men, Sei knew that it hurt women a fair amount as well. Sei leaned over to Anita, his hand still behind his back. “Give up?”

“Why,” Anita asked between sobs, hoping Skyler could deliver the deciding blow, “when you just lost?”

[skyler manfield]

Skyler had only stepped back into the mineshaft a few yards and crouched there in the darkness, watching as Anita took the attack further outside into the gray drizzle. The weapon the girl used was innocent looking enough, but the assassin knew from the sound it made and the wicked cut it left across Sei's shirtfront that it was not just a child's plaything. A glimmer of respect grew in Skyler's heart for the obnoxious girl she trained with.

As Sei's knee came up against Anita's groin and the girl fell with a painful grunt, Skyler winced on her behalf, but quickly exited the cave, circling around behind her current mentor. Her stiletto still in her right hand, she silently leaned over his back only touching her body against his as her blade found its point against the soft underside of his throat, pressing hard upwards into the flesh beneath his jaw. She rested her face alongside his, her mouth close to his ear.

"If you move, this blade moves too, but not where you'd like it to," Skyler whispered, "Won't take much to push it up through a couple of important arteries right into your brainpan. Sorry, Anita, I know I said I wouldn't slit his throat. This doesn't really count does it?"

For emphasis, the assassin pressed the point of the blade a little harder against Sei's throat, smiling at Anita as she did so. Whether the smile was jovial or malicious, even Skyler wasn't really sure.

[Silence Sei]

Sei had underestimated the abilities of the girls. Within mere moments of sending out his challenge, Skyler and Anita and proven worthy opponents. Sei smiled slightly as he felt the cold steel of Skyler’s blade against his neck. The mute simply looked down in response, where his right hand had his curved Gemini Blade pointed straight towards Skyler’s torso. As far as a normal fight would have went, they would both be dead with Anita being the sole victor.

This was a faux battle, however, and Sei had promised not to use his right hand. By bringing out his sword using his right hand, the mute had forfeited the challenge. “ I must say I am impressed by the both of you. Most mystics would not be able to topple me so fast, let alone you two .”

Sei looked to Anita, who seemed a bit hurt at that comment. Anita was the adopted daughter of Sei and that was a fact she forgot about most of the time. To be so close to someone and not be their flesh and blood made no sense to the girl. Sei had inadvertently hurt his daughter more with one comment than any knee to the pelvis ever could.

“ Anita, I—”

“It’s fine Papa. I’m fine. Anyways, we won the challenge, what’s our reward?”

Sei smiled to the two of them, quickly slipped out of Skyler’s grasp, and stepped further out into the forest. He came back seconds later with two green bags that were neatly zipped up. Sei sat the bags down and unzipped them, pulling out to perfectly dry green sleeping bags. Each of the bags had been monogrammed with each girl’s name in bright orange. Sei glanced towards Skyler and then back to Anita.

“ They are blessed with magic from Orlouge Drantrak. They have a light spell always on them to keep them constantly warm in cold weather. I figured it was something that two girls who traveled a lot would like. ” Sei may not have been the best when it came to being a good parent, but he spared no expense at trying to please his little girl.

Or any girl, for that matter.

Sei stood up and looked to the two girls once more “ I shall be leaving for the night. In the meantime, you two try not to kill one another while I’m away .” Sei them wiped some of the raindrops rolling down his features away, and left the cave once more. Soon, he was out of the vision of the girls.

Little did they know that this too was part of their training.

[skyler manfield]

The light was quickly slipping away as Sei handed the girls their reward for successfully impressing him in their mock fight. Skyler looked the sleeping bag over, trying to appear grateful, but mostly just looking a bit incredulous. Aside from the ten days she was unconscious after her close call in Salvar, Skyler couldn't remember the last time she had slept for more than an hour at a time. The assassin watched as her temporary mentor disappeared into the rainy twilight, and then turned to Anita.

"I'm thinkin' we might oughta take advantage of our little gifts," Skyler said as she stepped into the mouth of the cave with the sleeping bag tucked under her arm, "I don't mind rain, but I'd rather not stand outside in it when there's a perfectly dry cave right here."

Returning to the same cozy open area where she'd met the pair, Skyler rolled out her new sleeping bag next to where she'd left her backpack and sat down on it, crossing her legs. She watched quietly as Anita did the same, but a few moments later the girl crawled inside the warm cocoon of the sleeping bag and laid down with her head resting on her arm.

Skyler wasn't the least bit drowsy, although she was more than a little tired; her body was exhausted from the long trip to Akashima and the rigorous training Sei had put her and Anita through since she'd arrived. Pulling her bag into her lap, Skyler rummaged through the pack, pulling out a leather case and opening it carefully. Although it contained her various poisons used as the tools of her trade, these were not what Skyler sought. Instead, she drew out a rather worn out envelope and set the case aside. With great care she pulled the letter out and unfolded it, reading the words she'd already read at least a dozen times before.

"Who's the letter from?" Anita's voice surprised Skyler from her letter and she looked up at the girl, silent for a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt to answer her. There was no telling how long it would be before Sei returned, and she figured it might be smart to make an effort to get along with the rather annoying girl she was stuck with.

"Cael," she replied, unable to keep herself from smiling when she said his name, but unsure how to explain who he was. "He's someone I met in Salvar. Should have just been a passing acquaintance... but you know how that goes."

"Yeah, I know," Anita nodded, although whether she really did know where Skyler was coming from, the assassin wasn't sure, "Tell me how you met him. I can't sleep anyway."

"It's a long story..." Skyler warned her, but Anita shrugged and motioned for Skyler to reveal the details behind the writer of the letter. "Hawk, my mentor, he asked me to go get someone out of the prison beneath the cathedral there in Knife's Edge - you ever been there?"

Anita shook her head, looking almost offended that she could be even considered as a candidate for a Salvaran prison, or any other for that matter. Skyler shrugged and continued, her eyes on the letter, her hands worrying the edges.

"Anyway, I put it off - guess I was scared - but finally I guess I just gave in. Wish I hadn't waited so long. Got down there and snuck around till I found the prisoner I was supposed to get out. He was real sick though so we couldn't just walk out of there - had to get him better first. So we spent a couple days, with me hiding whenever the guards came 'round, and feeding him and trying to get medicine on whatever wounds he had. I won't get into the details... they're a bit gory... but in the end we got out. I guess all the danger and close spaces ... made us real close."