Learn to Fly

[Lavinian Ambition]

Closed. Kyo is go for Post.
Takes place after Whispers in the Dark.

A grunt lit up the ruins as a figure scrambled over rocks. He pushed himself forcing his way through the natural obstacle course. Jumping from rock to rock he would push off one, before landing, preparing and jumping to the next, making his way steadily forth to the goal. Each landing saw the youth gather more and more sweat, but he didn't care. He wasn't here to be clean and decent. He was taking time out of his busy life for some much needed training.

He jumped again, this time landing on and angled slab of stone, a wall that had long fallen and was sinking into the earth. Upon this surface he immediately jumped again, barely managing to catch the lip of the next surface. Tiredly he pulled himself up as the sweat poured down his face. His dagger's scraping against the stone, and reminding him of the final part of his self made course. Pulling himself up he rolled upon the roof of the building the wall had been supporting before he rose to his knees and rushed forward.

He had slowed down a bit on that last obstacle, perhaps it was almost time to call it a day. At the far end of the roof he saw the target, a Tree had grow, and had a branch once, however, with the forces of nature that branch had been cleanly torn off, and a knot had formed in the trunk. Drawing a knife he threw it with all the skill he knew, before it collided with the knot, hilt first and bounced harmlessly off the trunk.

"Son of a bitch!" He cursed as he flopped down on the ceiling, next to him was his satchel, placed there so he could recoup before going back to the beginning. His red hair clung to his head, as it was matted with sweat. His shirt soaked in the briny water as well. Looking at the fallen dagger, his face took on a look of betrayal. It had seemed so simple in practice before, why was it so hard now?

You're tired, and you aren't great at it. So stop bitching about how you can't throw for shit, that’s why you're doing this, An older voice said. The voice belonged to a long dead thief who the world knew a million times over. Seth Dahlios had taken up residence in Jared's body, and sometimes it only bore frustration. Though occasionally the thief said something Jared could only agree with.

"Doesn't mean I like failing," Jared spat venomously as he drank greedily from the third water skin he had brought from the Bandit Brotherhood headquarters. Sighing as he felt the water go straight to work, curing his parched throat he wiped a bit of the excess water from his lips before he poured a bit of water over his head, too cool him off rapidly. With a sigh he corked the skin and tossed it back in the satchel before he jumped off the side of the building landing with a heavy thud, before he grabbed the errant dagger. Moving through the ruins he moved back to the beginning of his course.

With a grunt, he raced forward before he scrambled over the rocks...

[Kyo]

The sound of heavy breathing pervaded the air. Hot and saturated in the thick humidity that always seemed present in Fiorair. She had grown accustomed to it over the months she had been staying here. Months she wouldn’t trade anything for. Ahead of her though, lay a situation she dreaded. The thief Jared trained. His body tired, his muscles protesting his every move but his mind determined and his will stronger than many she had ever seen before. She respected him and trusted him, things that few people ever earned from her. On top of that, she had feelings for him a leader shouldn’t and shared a bed with him behind closed doors. She watched and waited, counting the mistakes that he made and shaking her head. The exertion was too evident, he was pushing too hard. Right now his body could handle it, but there came a breaking point where the training was too much for the body to handle and beyond that all you did was damage. The problem was, she wanted to give him that damage. He had scared her, he had almost gotten himself killed and it had all been his fault. Punishment was the course of action for such behaviour.

The friction of his boots ground his feet to a stop on the angled stone of a fallen wall. She couldn’t believe he didn’t snap his ankle or at least twist it as he awkwardly pushed off. Finally he reached his goal, sweat dripping from his now dark red hair as his fingers made a clumsy grip at the handle. Steel flashed and twirled as it left his hand and she knew it would not hit. It was all wrong and his disappointment was felt as the hilt bounced off the tree some feet away. She could hear his curses travel through the air just as clearly as his panting. But he didn’t quit. She admired that about him and knew that determination. Kyo also knew he was making too many mistakes to let this slide and decided right there that his punishment was made, by his own choice.

He gathered his dagger and moved back to the obstacle course made from grey stones, damp ground and think, dark vines which snaked and climbed over everything. A home once now ruined and civilization destroyed and the remains turned into something useful for the still breathing. If only he would use the most of his surroundings. By the end of this he would and by the end of this he’d think twice when approached with another idiotic situation like the one from before.

Kyo slipped down from the wall she was sitting on. In the shadows of the high sun, cast down from the towering, ancient trees above her she had been well hidden from her thief. His lack of attentiveness to his surroundings was a problem. No ninja in her clan would have let someone sneak on up them like she had him. Jared just remained so focus on a single task that everything else became crowded out and lost. He needed to pay more attention to his senses and open them up. Hear the wind, the leaves and the gentle lap of the water and understand the sounds so that when something was wrong, he knew.

The thief moved slower this time than he had before. Once he almost lost his balance as his boot slid upon a rock too steep and too smooth from the elements which had wore it down. He recovered and moved again and she quickly and silently stalked through the ruins ahead of him. Pulling the mask up to the bridge of her nose, Kyo hid half her face from his prying eyes. Then she waited, crouched and muscles tensed as he got closer to her. Her fingers wrapped around the leather coiled blade of her ninjato and more than ready to use it. Each second meant a footstep that pounded and ground down on the rock. Then he came into view, his dagger drawn as he pushed himself those last few steps which were all wrong.

She moved. Fast through the long shadows of the ruins. Her legs pushed her off the ground and propelled her forward. She hit one rock with a single foot and bounded off it towards another. Hitting that one she bounced off it again and pushed herself up into a high jump that brought her square in front of Jared. A black figure appearing from nowhere. Kyosku descended, legs reaching for the steady rock below her as metal was drawn but did not flash in the bright light of the day. No fog permeated the swamp today and he was lucky for that. It made the strike towards his neck all the more visible and gave him the chance to show her what he could do.

It’s time Jared, time to learn to fly.

[Lavinian Ambition]

Jared was tired but focused. As he rushed forward to throw his knife, instinct kicked in as he saw a dark figure jump before him. His muscles screamed in protest of the exertion he was putting himself under but he moved all the same. Reversing his grip on the dagger he parried the blow of the blade before he brought a boot forward in a vicious kick to gather him some room. Immediately he jumped back after the kick to gain some distance as his shoulders heaved with the effort. He didn't even speak as he normally would, such was his focus.

The figure before him wasn't nearly as tired as he was, he'd have to work quickly, otherwise any difference in stamina would widen the gap. He had to take victory quickly if he wanted to finish this foe off, or at least subdue them. With a grunt he was off as he sped towards the dark clad figurine, his mind registering something was off. Still he moved in with a slide meant to take him below the normal attack zone, as he brought the knife up in an effort to gut the person who had ambushed him.

It was then he caught the black hair, and his heart skipped a beat. Trying desperately to stop the strike he watched it stop just shy of her stomach as he grunted, feeling his muscle protest at the act. He looked up into his assailant's eyes and saw the all too familiar ice blue. Cautiously he moved back as he waited for any strike from her. He couldn't tell if this was one of her playful moods, or one of her dangerous moods. While they had sparred before, he was loathe to actually hurt her, which usually ended in him taking a good set of lumps, before they took care of what ailed him.

His chest rose and fell with him trying to catch his breathe. He could feel the ache in his muscles from his training, and his eyes held a fatigue he had not known since he had first joined the Thief's guild. Still he watched her warily. Taking in the details he had missed. He could see the sleeves, which held numerous shuriken to throw at him. The twin swords she often carried, though one was even now held in hand, and even the almost form fitting garb, which should have been his first warning of her approach.

The situation was perhaps the most enigmatic. There was a tension between them, a pregnant silence in the air. He knew he was the worse off of the two, how badly she'd press that advantage would tell him why she had come. If she came to toy with him, he could relax, but if she came for a fight...

…Jared was not going to back down.

[Kyo]

Silence reigned, broken by heavy and shallow breathing. She remained still. His body practically shook with every breath he took. A lesson needed to be taught but she was not cruel. As their eyes clashed and their wills lay bare before them she gave him those precious seconds to gather some of that needed oxygen into his muscles. Kyosku knew it was impossible to train someone exhausted beyond the point of moving. His initial reaction had displeased her though. Instincts were good, but he let them override his senses before he could assess the situation. In the time it took him to parry her attack, he should have been able to realize it was her. The clothes, the eyes and the weaponry were his first hints. Body language and mannerisms was the second. Even after his first attack he had not been able to see through the clothing and the adrenaline. She’d let him perform the attack but had expertly moved to the side allowing his foot to sail right passed her, an opportunity missed. Kyo could have grabbed it, threw him off his feet and put him in an ankle or a knee hold. Both of which were extremely painful and made for submission. If the person didn’t submit, a single and mere second taking turn would break the appendage and render it useless until mended. But that would defeat her purpose here so she had let it fly by her. The dagger had been a problem. Eyes narrowed, she had watched him come closer to her until she’d seen that recognition and surprise in his eyes. Then he had backed off, body rigid and waiting.

Kyo knew Jared had no idea what was going on. She could be playing with him, toying with him or merely leading him on to something far more pleasurable later. She was an odd girl and she occasionally enjoyed turning a sword tearing fight into a clothes tearing one. And Jared had never been one to complain about it. That was not her intention here though.

Her feet shifted and the muscles along his legs and shoulders tensed. But she gave him a few more seconds to catch his breath, the ones already given having steady but now slowed it too much. He needed more time.

But I’m not willing to give it.

She exploded across the distance between them. No warning given. The ninjato in her hand was ready and wanted blood. His blood. The black blade within her grip shifted in her fingers, the point now facing towards her elbow and the sharp edge of the blade out. Turning her body along with her hand the ninja lashed out at her lover, her thief. The blade whistled through the air. Speeding towards his chest. He reacted, his hand flying out with his already loosed dagger.

Weighed and predicted, lover.

Her free hand lashed out just as his blade collided with her. The sound of metal resounded and her fingers closed around his wrist. With a twisted of her body and his hand she pulled herself behind him and jammed his hand up into his back. The dagger was still in his grasp and she pressed it into his back near his spine. The point did not break cloth or skin, but the threat was there. Twisting her blade back around, she brought it to his neck. Cold steel met hot, sweat slicked skin and pressed against it. The threat of blood was made and if he swallowed wrong she knew it would slice sensitive flesh.

“You fucked up, Jared.” It had been days since they had escaped and made their way back to Aisierigh, but she had no doubt in her mind he would know what she meant. “Your punishment has been decided.” Her voice was cold and deadly and whispered into his ear on her thick akashiman accent. “Blood and sweat shall be the dept you owe. Until satisfied and the body is trained, I will take this dept from you.”

No further conversation was needed. The blade was removed from his neck. Yet she gave him no quarter. Just as her foot made to collide with the back of his knee, she released his wrist.

[Lavinian Ambition]

Vigilance.

It was one word, nine letters, and at this point his biggest flaw. He had none. He had not seen fit to be vigilant when Logan McCloud had distracted him, when men who obviously had a beef with him had entered the damn tavern, drugged and kidnapped him. He had failed to be vigilant then, when it had been important. He was forced to be rescued by Kyo, and the result was today, when she had shown him once again that he could train all he wanted, prepare until his muscles screamed and gave in. He could not hope to accomplish anything, without vigilance.

She had hissed in his ear, underlining the words in his mind, as he tried to figure out what he could do. He was exhausted, even with the brief interlude between them. She had exploded and with superior speed, that had not been apparent between them, she had placed his knife in a position to stab him, and nearly slit his throat. Anyone else would have been dead; Jared was allowed to live with his mistake. Perhaps that was the problem; he had made a mistake in the first place. In the guild, he would have been dead before they could rescue him.

So when she had kicked his knee, he buckled it before rolling forward coming about in a kneeling position to face her. His eyes held a determine light, but no fire of anger. No, this was what he had to do. This was his penance for fucking up, for nearly getting himself killed. From the stand point of a lover and a leader, this was a fitting punishment, even if he had dealt it to himself. Watching for her actions he knew that he was predictable. He fell into patterns, parry this, attack there. He had to think outside the box, be vigilant of his surroundings.

Around the ceiling there was no room for him to fight, nothing to take advantage of. The stones that were the floor of this arena were strong enough to support them, but there was nothing of which to catch her off guard. He was near the ledge he would use to pull himself up, and he could think of one way, try to draw her into the course where he could strike, but that wouldn't be good. She was far better at using terrain to her advantage. He had to stick with the known, just vary his attacks.

Taking a more aggressive stance he took a slash at her, before he used it as a feint, his knee coming up for her gut. Using his momentum he kept pushing forward as he brought his other dagger hilt first to her wrist. Already his breathing was taking on a labored quality, but he tried to push on, until he felt it, his body could only keep up with him so long, and the adrenaline had not given him ample warning. He fell to his knees before both daggers slid across the floor, the sound of metal upon stone echoing through the area as he felt everything just, give.

[Kyo]

Kyosku saw the motions going through his eyes. If she could have plucked his thoughts from his mind she had an idea as to what they would be. Assessing. He finally chose to assess his situation. Eyes darted around him to the stones but never completely left her either. In a real battle she wouldn’t give him the time. Part of her didn’t even want her to here. But he was meant to learn from this. He couldn’t learn if she didn’t give him the opportunity. Finally, as the seconds ticked by between them and he took too much time to think, he reacted.

His feet were still a little sloppy. Technique was needed there and mental note was taken. The tension in his arm caught her eye as did the glint of his dagger. She readied a parry, but realized too late it was a feint. His body stance changed just as he reared his knee towards her gut. Her abs tensed in anticipation. The hard bone of his kneecap slammed into them. She grunted and felt the dull pain spread out from her stomach. Nothing she couldn’t handle. He pulled back slightly and his dagger hilt flew for her wrist, trying to remove her sword. She moved it to the side and he hit air. Then she made to counter and send him flying onto his ass. Apparently though she didn’t need to. Jared practically collapsed right before her. His body pushed too far. His muscles finally giving in beyond the command on his mind.

Daggers slid across stone and Kyo felt her frustration mount. She could not let this go just because he was tired. Growling low in her throat, the ninja advanced on the down man. Rearing back her leg, she slammed her shin into his side. He groaned and nearly dropped to the ground. His right hand buckled, his left and his legs keeping him up.

“Get up!”

Jared tried. She could see it as he pushed himself into a complete crouch before her. His arms almost shaking from the strain of it.

“I said get up!”

Part of her knew she was pushing him too far. This was beyond his breaking point. He needed rest. He needed to recuperate. The other part of her didn’t care. Viciously, she slammed her shin into his side again. The force sent him rolling until he hit the ground and using her foot she rolled him onto his back.

“Don’t tell me this is all you can give me.” She snarled at him, her eyes narrowed. She pushed her foot into his lower stomach, right into his diaphragm.

[Lavinian Ambition]

Jared knew he was out, this was the end. She had won because he simply could not fight anymore. There was nothing left in him, because he had failed yet again to be aware. As he laid on the ground he waited for something, a word anything to signal the end, but it never came. As she stomped down on him he coughed and gasped for breath. He was winded, and she was pushing for him to get up. He couldn't though, he was at wits end, and he simply could not fight anymore. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it’s that he couldn't.

I got this..

Jared heard the words as if from far off, before he blacked out.


~*~

Jared in the real world groaned as he lay under the boot of the ninja. However, he moved slowly his hands moving towards her as if to find purchase on the stone. Finally when he moved the maneuver was executed swiftly, so brutally. Jared moved bringing an elbow up to hit the girl in the gut as he rose to his feet. His actions were far more fluid and confident than they had been moments before. As he forced distance between them Jared growled out, "Back off bitch."

It had been awhile since he had actually interacted with the world, months at the least and years before that. For him to actually be able to act and have it project into the real world was oddly soothing. It seemed to sate some of the hunger for action he had developed waiting for Jared to grow old enough. Needless to say, the man who stood before Kyo was more than ready to prove to her that Jared was not to be trifled with.

His eyes were hard, cold, and they did the job Jared had attempted far more efficiently than the thief. With everything cataloged he moved at her bringing a kick up for her leg before he rolled past her, and the sounds of metal upon stone rang out, Jared had gotten back his daggers. Taking up a more defensive stance, as loathe as he was to do so, he watched the Ninja for her reaction.

[Kyo]

The light of excitement danced behind the icy facade of her eyes. Deep within them the fire of battle was beginning to grow and spread across her skin like electricity. It had been so long since she had been in a good fight. Not since that Pagoda match with Sakurazuka had she truly been able to stretch her limbs and test the limits of her skills. Was Jared lowering the barricades? Did he really have what it took to fight her or would he give up because he didn’t want to hurt her? She didn’t know, couldn’t possibly know beyond a shadow of a doubt. To say she knew him exceedingly well would be a lie. He was unpredictable in her mind; the ninja had a hard time telling him from right and left. There was just something about him that threw off everything she had ever used to predict human behaviour before. Were he her quarry, he would provide an interesting challenge as she tracked him and followed his moves in an effort to kill him.

Kyo had thought Jared out. His body exhausted from too much, there had never been doubt in her mind that her somewhat vicious attacks on him had meant the end of his fighting for the day. And yet here he stood looking at her, every muscle in his body tense and ready for her next move. But she remained perhaps even more lax than she should have been. Alarm bells rang loudly in her skull, insinuating something her instincts were trying to tell her brain, but the battle to understand seemed lost. Even the word he had called her brought a sense of unease. Never before had Jared used such derogatory terms around her and especially about her. They’d had their yelling and sometimes screaming matches. They’d thrown each other around and then ripped each other’s clothes off when the heat of the moment turned from anger to something much more intense. But this didn’t seem right in her mind. It was as if the grey eyes she looked into...

Her breath caught in her throat as she continued to regard him. His eyes are dead.

She gave her head a quick shake and looked again, but the same flat grey stared back at her, not the storming and tumultuous grey she was used to. Chiding herself at imagining the impossible and thinking about something that could not be, Kyosku flexed her fingers around her blade. She twisted it around in her grasp until the dull edge faced out. There was no point in killing him. Especially since she might actually miss him, though that was a bit of a stretch.

“What’s wrong,” She taunted him with a smirk, the mask around her face prevented him from seeing more than a subtle shift in the material, “don’t want to play anymore? I guess that’ll teach you to merrily go skipping around town with Logan next time.”

As she spoke, she used the seconds to carefully gauge the area they were fighting in. The broken walls and crumbling stone provided shadows all around the place, not to mention the ground was precarious at best. It would be a good place for him to learn better footwork. With a quick shift of her legs, she pushed forward and sprinted between the few feet of distance between them. As she did she allowed energy to freely flow throughout her body, tingling her muscles and tendons as it went. Centering it, concentrating on it, she extended it outward into the environment, calling upon the darkness that dwelled behind the bright sunshine. She had no idea if this would work or not, but she tried anyway.

Instead of calling the shadows to her, she called it to the limited area they were fighting in. It appeared as if a cloud had covered the sun. The area grew far dimmer, the shadows denser and the stone turned a deep grey as if twilight were upon them. Kyosku’s smirk only grey as she realized her powers extended beyond the sphere of her mere body. Then the seconds ended and she found herself before him.

Hands reacted quickly, before her mind even finalized her actions. Her right hand flashed in a quick reflexive move, bringing the blunt edge of her ninjato in a horizontal slash towards Jared’s torso. At the same time her left hand reached behind her and pulled her second sword from its sheath. She twisted it around within her grasp to reveal the blunt edge as well before attempting to cut him across the middle from the other side. Her body was relaxed and more than ready to shift into a defensive stance should he find it within himself to counter.

[Lavinian Ambition]

The slash towards his midsection was met with a hand even as the sound of metal upon the stone beneath him rang out. Catching the blade he narrowed his eyes as the other knife too followed suit. As much as he wanted to teach the girl a lesson about how much she didn't know, Jared still had feelings for the tramp. His hand met hers at the wrist before he breathed heavily from the exertion. The vitality of his limbs was fast running out even as blood gently trailed down the blade of the ninja-to and fell to the ground.

The eyes looked in with her ice blue as he spoke, the voice a bastardization of Jared's, as if it was someone trying to impersonate who was talking, the tone cold and distant, "The boy's beaten himself enough over Logan's stupidity, don't push it."

A boot gently scooped under his dagger as he continued to lock eyes, knowing if he wanted the girl could have been dead. She was definitely trying to teach Jared about fighting, something the aged Hex Magi was not against, but the methods today were lacking. While he looked at the girl he sneered, the action contorting the normally jovial face of Jared into something far more sinister as it commenced. He then spoke, "He's through for the day, push it farther and you won't walk away from this. Let it drop and I'll back down..."