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((I. Hate. School.))

The Guardian, Graid, lay still as Malana mopped up some of the blood. He was unconcious, tired, wounded, and too exhausted to even try to wake up...or cast healing magic.

What exactly had happened to get him in such a state? What exactly...powerful magic...that's all he could think of, if one could call what was going through his mind thoughts.

The only thing he was completely sure of: he had to find the One. Who he or she is, he had no clue, but he knew that s/he was important. Important....for the sake of both worlds.

He had to get up. Had to. His closed eyes tensed for a moment, his body also stiffening. Almost...Graid slowly opened his eyes, vision hazed and blurred as he took in his surroundings. Where was he...?

Emi pedaled back toward the shrine with worry driving her to greater haste each passing moment. Ever since school had adjourned the signs and portents that her grandmother had taught her to read had been casting warnings in her path. The swirl of cherry petals in a rain puddle, birds taking to wing and circling counter clockwise before flying away in alarm, the natural world was sending a message that something momentous and dangerous would happen, or was happening.
Worried about her grandmother, the girl sped onward toward her destination taking hair-raising risks dodging through traffic to make better time. It seemed forever before city fell back and the torii of the temple appeared before her. Skidding to a halt at the gate, Emi leapt from her bike and dashed past the lion statues stood watch. The courtyard was outwardly calm and serene but her grandmother wasn't out tending the plants or raking the gravel into tidy patterns, so without pause she ran down the path to the shrine. kicking off her shoes and giving a swift splash of water to her hands and mouthe. Relief like cool water flowed over Emi's jangled nerves when she saw that her grandmother was well and sitting before the shrine meditating.
Feeling fool-hardiy for having been in a panic she joined her grandmother in comtemplation before the alter. The familiar smell of incense wafted in the air. After a few moments her grandmother broke the silence. and turned to her.
"My girl, you to have noticed that all is not right today. The world has suffered a blow. One of the gaurdians that protect the gateways has failed and fallen to earth. We must be prepared, for who knows what might try and follow him through?"

Emi was stunned. The guardian's that sealed and protected the world where great warriors, strong in arm and spirit. For one to be defeated was shocking. Still, there was hope. For never in the entire course of history going all the way back to the faintest early myths had the gods allowed the gates to fall to powers that dwelt in the darkness beyond the worlds edge. Champions had always arisen in times of crisis to drive back anything that broke through. Unfortunatly for mortals the gods didn't share the worlds sense of time. A demon could cause great troubles for a generation or more before they took a hand in things. As her grandmother lit another wand of incense they both began to chant prayers hoping for guidance and enlightenment to allow them to be wise and brave enough to weather the coming troubles.

((Hey is anyone in the guild interested in playing saki? We still need Malana's younger brother to be played.))

After she and her grandmother finished their prayers, Emi left the main building to go sweep the pathways and attend a few other chores. The time passed quickly, and soon Emi found herself hurrying to practice. She'd been training at atarashi naginata for several years now and had been hoping to go to a competition that was being held soon to test how her skills were coming along. Now with troubles arriving, Emi felt it would be unwise to go off to the competition. She didn't want to be focused elsewhere and have something serious happen while her attention wavered.
By the time she was finished evening was progressing. Her grandmother would have dinner for them both soon, and Emi still had homework to do. After a quick bath and meal she settled in to do the reading she needed to for her classes.

Malana took in a sharp gasp. The man had smiled, he was now at least awake! She was a little nervous to spray the disinfectant again. His body had cringed to the affects of the spray, but this would be better for him.

When she had finally finished spraying him, Malana took out some bandages. It was an odd thing to do, but Malana had nearly jumped at the sound of his voice. As quiet as it was, the man's voice sounded so gentle and his thanks breathed new life into her work. She had blushed in a shade of light pink as Malana wrapped the bandage about the man's chest and torso. "N-no need to thank me- but your welcome." she whispered, fearing that if she spoke to loudly that the man would shrink back.

When she was almost done bandaging the man, he sat up. Malana was shocked that he could even speak with his injuries, let alone move. But what was more shocking was that, the man's beautiful wings had shrunk! Malana was still a bit frightened, but she could help herself, she adjusted legs and finished bandaging the man up. "There," she sighed with relief. There had been just enough bandages to cover the man up. Malana pulled back her hair into a pony tail as her cat came thumping lightly down the stairs. "A-are you ok? Does that feel better?"

Graid nodded, letting out a soft sigh as he massaged one of his arms. "Thank..you..." He looked up at the girl and smiled, a warm, healthy one of sorts. "It feels much better. Thanks..."
His voice was still soft as he spoke, a kind and warm sort.
The Guardian paused, eyes blurring in and out of focus as he looked down at the floor as he tried to recall what had happened. He must've slippped to the other side...and after that? How did he arrive in this girl's home?

He shook his head, brushing several strands of red hair from his face as he looked up at Malana.
"I apoligize for inconveniencing you like this..."
His gaze found his way back to the floor as he furrowed his brow, rubbing his hands together.
"If you don't mind, may I ask your name?"

Graid winced slightly as he tried to stand, legs shivering as he got to his feet. He stumbled a bit, before leaning against the wall to rest. He hadn't realized that the wounds had drained his energy quite this much...

The Guardian laughed softly, though his breaths were shallow and quick. "Don't worry...Miss Era..."
In any case, it would be dangerous if he were to stay in one place for a long period of time...the portal was unguarded, since he was on the other side, so if others were to get through...
So, first things first - heal as fast as possible, and be sure not to cause trouble. He winced slightly as he moved away from the wall, somewhat determined to stand on his own. His face was still pale from lack of blood, and legs somewhat wobbly and unsure of themselves, but the last thing he wanted to do was to be an inconvienience...

But the girl..Malana, seemed quite accepting...most of the time, he wouldn't think one would react as open to a bleeding, winged stranger suddenly appearing in one's house. In fact, there was something about her, just something, that attracted him to her in a way unexplainable - his mind was still foggy, but some form...of power... She was kind, and caring, and something about her gave him the urge to protect. But his mind was still hazed from battle, and he couldn't quite pin down the reason.

He smiled, wincing slightly from the pain of his wounds. He had used too much power...not enough to cast any sort of spell. "Miss Era, if you don't mind me asking, where's the rest of your family?" Yes - one of the first things to do would be to learn about the rest of the people in the household. That would be the wisest choice. After all, in his current state, he would need a place to rest for a few days.

Hiji stood up. The meeting had finally ended. Usually these meeting were quicker then normal scheduled ones, but for some reason this one wasn't. Walking over to her Boss she haded him the notes on the meeting. With that over she went back to her desk.

Madame Era had just started working again when she noticed the time. Her work day was over. Hiji let out a sigh of relief. One of her coworkers herd her and asked if she needed time off. She quickly replied with a "no". If she were to have time off how could she pay the bills?

Putting away her things she neatly piled her work for home in her briefcase. Saying goodbye to her coworkers she headed home. As Hiji got on the public transport system she really wished she owned her own car. That of course was out of the question right now. Money wasn't an issue, if they only used it for things they really needed. A car simply couldn't fit in the bugedit at this time.

Getting off at the stop closest to her home she started walking. The day was beautiful. Hiji gave a silent prayer that her son didn't get into any trouble today. She knew that was unlikely. If he didn't change his grades soon, she would be making him stop sports.